This week, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf officially pardoned Dr. Paul Ezell. Dr. Ezell previously served a six-month jail sentence after receiving a conviction for cannabis possession as he grew medical cannabis for his sick wife. This followed pressure from the Lt. Gov to make changes in the state’s stance on cannabis.

The Doctor

In 2010, Dr. Paul Ezell, an ophthalmologist in Havertown, Pennsylvania, began growing medical cannabis for his wife. She was an opioid addict who had overdosed once before when trying to control her chronic pain. She was first prescribed opioids in 2008. During this time, the opioid epidemic was coming to a head, but still not fully understood. Mrs. Ezell at the time was taking three different opioids and an antidepressant. Her antidepressant received categorization as a benzodiazepine. 

These two drug types, opioids and benzos, are part of the ‘holy trinity’ as medical professionals have called them. When these two drug types combine with a third, a stimulant type drug, it can be incredibly dangerous for people as it can sedate a person enough to make their heart stop. 

Mrs. Ezell

Fearing his wife would become even more addicted to her medicine, Dr. Ezell originally locked up her medicine in a safe box. In the morning and the evening, the doctor would give Mrs. Ezell her medicine as regulated. At the time, he didn’t question her doctors because they knew best. But Dr. Ezell always been interested in natural medicine over manufactured ones, such as opioids. 

In the 1970s, when he originally graduated from the University of Michigan with his doctorate degree, Dr. Ezell researched and reported about the benefits of cannabis in a medical sense. Remembering this report is what inspired the doctor to look into potential cannabis use to help his wife’s pains. After a few months, the doctor purchased 28 plants from various locations to start growing them in his basement. Once she began to take cannabis, her pain eased more than when she only took her opioid medications. 

The reason the doctor has acquired so many plants is that Mrs. Ezell didn’t like smoking the plant. The doctor created kief, a concentrated source of cannabis added to baked goods and food that Mrs. Ezell could eat. And it worked well for a few years. She was able to remove one opioid from her daily medication and lower the doses of others. She seemed to be getting better and not as addicted. So Dr. Ezell began to leave her medicine at home, unlocked. He would constantly check in with her through text. 

But the doctor came home one summer day in 2013 and found Mrs. Ezell unconscious and not breathing on the floor of their bedroom. Dr. Ezell began performing CPR, and when she was breathing once again he called for emergency services. Mrs. Ezell’s body had suffered severe organ failure and she passed away three days later reading in their bed. The couple had been married for 26 years. She had overdosed on her remaining opioid medications.

Aftermath

Dr. Ezell continued his standard routine each day after his wife passed. He took care of all his houseplants, including his 28 medical cannabis plants in the basement. 

In 2014, police found probable cause of cannabis branches and leaves in his trash after an anonymous tip came in that Dr. Ezell was selling cannabis to his patients. Even though the doctor wasn’t, police acquired a search warrant to search the house. 

The police found and confiscated the cannabis plants in the basement. The doctor, along with his daughter, a nurse who lived in the house at the time, were charged with possession and conspiracy to sell to others. Both lost their medical licenses, and Dr. Ezell took a plea bargain for eight months of jail time. He ended up only serving six months for good behavior. 

Lieutenant Governor

In 2016, medical cannabis became legal in Pennsylvania. According to Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, the doctor shouldn’t have been pressured into taking a plea bargain. He shouldn’t have served jail time. Lt. Governor Fetterman then reached out to Dr. Ezell, and told him and his daughter to apply for a formal pardon. They needed a second chance to live their lives because medical cannabis was now legal. Fetterman says no more lives should be ruined for unnecessary prohibition. 

“Here’s a doctor of 30 years who had not so much as a speeding ticket, and then his whole life is ruined for giving his wife medicine that’s now legal in Pennsylvania. This is a prime example of the destructive power of reefer madness.” Lt. Gov. Fetterman tweeted, helping bring attention to the doctor’s case and push his potential pardon forward. 

Lt. Governor Fetterman has always stood for cannabis legalization, even waving a cannabis flag from the balcony outside of his office at the capitol building. 

Governor

This week, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) officially pardoned Dr. Ezell for the charges against him. This has opened up Dr. Ezell to apply for his medical license again. His license was also revoked in 2014 when he received his conviction. 

While Lt. Governor John Fetterman, as well as Governor Tom Wolf, are pushing for recreational cannabis legalization, the Republican controlled legislature is opposed to any legalization measures. Any attempts made this year have not advanced, despite a majority of Pennsylvania citizens approving and calling for recreational cannabis legalization. 

His Own Words

Dr. Ezell wants his daughter pardoned as well. He isn’t as concerned for himself as he is for his daughter, Victoria. She was a nurse at the time of his arrest, and living at his house. It had only been nine months since Mrs. Ezell had passed away. Since she lived in the house, even though she had no part in the growth of the cannabis plants, she also received a charge of conspiracy and possession. She didn’t have to serve time like her father. But her nursing license was revoked by the Pennsylvania Nursing Board. If pardoned, she could return to her passion of nursing. Her application for a board pardon will take place later this month.

In a recent interview, Dr. Ezell said that he doesn’t regret his decision to grow medical cannabis to help his wife. 

“I did what I did to help my wife — to help an addict,” he said. And it hurt no one, “except the community that I hurt because I lost my profession and obviously myself, but no one else. I took that Hippocratic oath, and I meant it. First, do no harm. The first line of the Hippocratic oath. So when I took that step” — growing cannabis for his wife — “I’d say that was my mission. And I don’t see how that’s been proven wrong.

“So what am I sorry for?” he asked the interviewer. “I’m sorry for the fact that in the course of me being arrested and all the consequences that have happened, many people’s lives have been disrupted. Everyone’s actions are just like a pebble hitting a pond. So there’s these immediate consequences. 

“Then there’s the ripples of continuing unintended consequences that go out in the world. And I disrupted that, but only because I didn’t go about it the right way and I didn’t stop when I should have — not because there was something inherently corrupt about the action. Although I would like to see if I’m wrong. Because then I could learn something.”

Reform continues to happen, but stories like Dr. Ezell’s could continue while prohibition is in place.

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