George McMahon knows he hasn’t got much time to live. On this fall day he sits in his truck beside an empty windswept beach and opens a shiny metal canister filled with tightly rolled marijuana cigarettes. McMahon presses a large joint between his wrinkled lips, then lights it. He inhales deeply, holds his breath for a few moments and then exhales. He grins and mutters, “Seize the day.”

He's not in Amsterdam but in rural Texas, home to a prison system renowned for zero-tolerance sentences and assembly-line executions. Even so, he's not concerned about legal repercussions. He can smoke his pot in any state of the union without being prosecuted.

Afflicted with a rare neurological condition, McMahon, 51, is one the seven U.S. citizens receiving legal medical marijuana from the United States government. He receives 300 joints a month, courtesy of the little-known Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program, run since 1978 by the Food and Drug Administration.

The U.S. has a long history of allowing the use of experimental pharmaceuticals, whether an unproven root bought in a health food store or the once-shunned thalidomide recently given to blood cancer patients like former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. Medical marijuana patients suffered a major legal setback in 2001, however, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that "marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an exception" from the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The nine justices made no mention of Uncle Sam's own pot farm at the University of Mississippi, nor of the machine-rolled joints sent free of charge to sick people like McMahon.

Despite last year's ruling, ballot-mandated cooperatives continue to provide marijuana to sick and dying citizens in nine states including California, where DEA agents have recently focused efforts to seize records, close clinics and destroy medical cannabis plants, violating the express will of the citizenry. Public outrage over these intrusive enforcement tactics has been so overwhelming that Santa Cruz officials recently joined local activists to pass out medical marijuana in front of City Hall, in direct defiance of federal law. This is the first time in nearly forty years (since the civil rights movement in the 1960s) that federal and state laws are in direct conflict.

McMahon has strong emotions about the recent headlines from California. "It's like some absurd cosmic joke. I have safe, legal access to my medicine, but my fellow patients are being threatened and jailed. Where's the justice in that?"

Convinced that using small amounts of pot daily helped ease his discomfort without life-threatening side effects, McMahon smoked marijuana illegally for several years. Finally, he tracked down a doctor at the University of Iowa, who took a special interest in helping him get marijuana legally. He put McMahon through an investigation protocol and a spastic pain evaluation. A native Iowan, McMahon then contacted assistants at Sen. Charles Grassley's office, and was pleased with their willingness to help.

After yet more tests and stacks of legal paperwork, McMahon received his first shipment of marijuana from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in March 1990. These days, he goes to a designated pharmacy, where he picks up the medicine in the form of joints, stored in a silver tin with a prescription tag. "I've been smoking 10 joints a day for 12 years, and during that time I haven't had one surgery or hospitalization. Marijuana literally saved my life."

In addition to struggling for survival, McMahon is fighting for the decriminalization of medical marijuana. McMahon remains lucid and eloquent as he travels the country, speaking with university students and faculty, legislators, physicians and law enforcement officials, "all while smoking 10 joints a day."

The Supreme Court decision to ban state-authorized clinics from distributing medical pot exposes blatant hypocrisy on the part of the federal government. If the Drug Enforcement Administration is correct when they claim that marijuana is a dangerous, addictive drug with no medical value, then why has the U.S. government been growing and giving it to sick and dying people for 24 years? On the other hand, if cannabis has medical applications, why is the government closing marijuana clinics, criminalizing patients and overriding the legal autonomy of the states?

McMahon extinguishes his government roach as a blazing marmalade sun descends behind him on the lake. “I want people to know that I am just a normal guy,” he says. “I’m not an activist, but I do believe that every sick patient in America should be able to make these personal choices without going to jail.”

Christopher Largen is a longtime friend of George McMahon. He is currently co-authoring a book with McMahon, titled The Green Path: A Journey to Uncle Sam’s Marijuana Garden. If you would like to respond to this Slant or have one of your own (850 words), contact Howard Altman, City Paper executive editor, 123 Chestnut St., third floor, Phila., PA 19106 or e-mail altman@citypaper.net.