What has your relationship with US Drug Enforcement Agency been like?
I've actually had a good relationship with DEA. And that came across quite by accident, really. I was being threatened with arrest in Texas, when I got off the plane in Dallas, that they didn't care about federal law, I was going to be in Texas. So I called the US Attorney General's office to let them know what was going to happen and what they could do to help and somehow it got connected back to DEA, to an agent named Tim Yeestep. And Tim was an older agent that knew about the protocol. So when I was telling him the problem I was having, he started asking me questions that only somebody that knew about the protocols and knew about the farm in Mississippi would know about. So when I answered him, he realized I really was a patient, and he helped me quite a bit to take care of that. And we remained friends, acquaintances. I actually helped him work on his master thesis on medical cannibus. And we since met in Washington, at the EA. I went there with him, and saw the museum. In my hometown of Fort Lauderdale, I've come in contact with DEA, a couple times. And it's always been...The first time wasn't as cordial, because they threatened to arrest me, but then when they realized that I was a federal patient, which they did not know about, there were eight agents they surrounded my car and threatened to arrest me. And when I was trying to prove to them what it was, they said, "Do you know who we are?" They were in plain clothes, I go, "No." I did know who they were, but I said, "No." And they said, "We're DEA." I said, "Then you should be familiar with the program, because it's under DEA." They go, "We don't know of any program giving out medical cannibus in this country." I go, "Then you need to be reeducated." So, we started making phone calls to prove it and I showed the paperwork, but one of the officers was kind of nasty, and didn't want to believe it. So, finally it dawned on me that two days prior is when I had helped Tim Yeestep do a master thesis, and I had his phone number. So I said, "Wait a minute. We can call Tim Yeestep to verify I'm a federal patient." So the guy gets him on the phone, walks away so I don't hear him, comes back. He says, "Okay, I got one question for you and you better answer it right." I go, "Officer, what is it?" He said, "What did you just help this agent with?" "I just helped him do his master thesis on medical cannibus." "Yeah, Tim, it is him. It is legal? The government does give out medical cannibus in this country?" So, he hung up the phone, I go back to my office and I call Tim back. And I go, "Tim, there were eight agents there. Why didn't they know about this?" He said, "I don't know." The next day he called me back. He said, "When the program was shut down in '92, DEA stopped teaching about it. So, unless you're an agent prior to '92, you have no idea the program exists."
