Eighteen months in Vietnam didn’t prepare retired army pilot Perry Parks for the horror of watching a close friend get eaten alive by stomach cancer.

“I saw him go through the most incredible pain,” said Parks, in reference to late Rockingham native Mike Culver. “He couldn’t eat; he just had no appetite because he was so sick.

“His doctor told him ‘If I were you, I’d get somebody to get me some marijuana.’”

On April 13, the Medicinal Marijuana Act (HB 1380) was introduced in the North Carolina House of Representatives by State Representative Earl Jones (D-Guilford) as a way to recognize and legalize cannabis as a treatment option for those who suffer from debilitating ailments.

According to Parks, Culver decided not to go with his physician’s suggestion for legal and ethical reasons. Now Parks feels that he has a responsibility to speak up about making legal medicinal use a matter for state, not federal, lawmakers to determine.

But marijuana, like heroin and LSD, is a Schedule I controlled substance. Possession of it is currently a crime, and taking a pro-cannabis stance sometimes means poking one’s finger into the proverbial hornet’s nest.

“I think there are a couple things that stand in the way in many places,” said Bruce Mirken, Director of Communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, a national advocacy group. “First of all, there’s just some sort of cultural baggage from the 60s and 70s. People have images of stoners in their minds, but in reality it just isn’t true.”

The Medicinal Marijuana Act, which passed first reading and went to committee this week, contends seriously ill people should be protected from marijuana arrest and prosecution. They should be able to use it in physician-controlled doses, and get it from a trusted source - the federal government.

“The United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), through the Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program, provides marijuana by prescription for a number of individuals who use it for medicine,” reads the bill. “The marijuana is grown at the federal marijuana research garden at the University of Mississippi and is processed and distributed by the Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park...patients receive the marijuana in monthly canisters of approximately 300 rolled cigarettes.”

HB 1380 defines a number of conditions that could qualify a patient for certification, from cancer and AIDS to chronic “severe pain” and “severe nausea.”

Parks was prescribed countless narcotic cocktails after being diagnosed with degenerative disk disease in 2001.

“They had me on all kinds of medication; they even put needles in my back,” said Parks. “I found that marijuana relieved my pain when Duke Pain Clinic could not.”

Parks is making his opinions heard. He’s told everyone from State Representative Melanie Wade Goodwin (D-Richmond) to North Carolina Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand (D - Bladen, Cumberland) to Hillary Clinton. But it’s not always an easy sell.

“As far as I’m concerned, marijuana is a stepping stone for more severe drugs,” said Richmond County Sheriff Dale Furr. “It can severely impair you, make you not as quick to react (while driving). Basically, everything marijuana does to you, alcohol does to you.”

Furr said he is opposed to legalizing any kind of controlled substance, including this one.

“We’ll have that many more people on the road that we don’t need on the road,” he said.

According to Jean Marlowe, director of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients Network, there are patients in every voting district and in the majority of counties.

“I think those patients have earned a right to do it,” said Marlowe, who added that the bill passed its first reading with a 67 percent approval rating.

“If this is passed, it will generate in excess of $65 million a year in the state and create over 1,000 jobs,” she said. “These are both things the state sorely needs.”

According to Goodwin, first reading is only a first reading. There is no vote taken, and legislators have yet to debate the issue.

“No fiscal note has been prepared, so there is no way to know how much revenue such a measure could generate or how much it could cost North Carolinians,” she added.

Under HB 1380, the N.C. DHHS could consider applications for marijuana dispensary and producer licenses, and grant them as it sees fit for initial fees of $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. Dispensaries and producers would be required to pay 10 percent of marijuana-related gross revenue to the state.

“If we’re in such dire straits that we have to use money that should be going to education?” Parks said referring to recent debates over the appropriation of state lottery funds. “There’s never been a better time to look at the issue. Take a look at the medical evidence, and pray about it.”

A self-proclaimed Christian, Parks does pray. As an active member of Southwood Church, the 66-year-old also volunteers on a regular basis, serves as a vice chair of the Richmond County Democratic Party, and treasures the numerous awards given to him by the United States Government for his military service: The Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze stars, four Oak Leaf Clusters, 31 Air Medal awards and 25 Combat Assault awards.

He was a pilot for 30 years and a Certified Safety Professional for Murphy Brown before retiring due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Often times, Parks said his high honors get him invited to high-level political and military ceremonies. Now that he’s retired, he can tell politicians what he really thinks.

“People who have jobs cannot even say a word. They would be risking their careers,” said Parks. “But marijuana relieves pain. If I did not know this I would not speak up.”

According to Goodwin, this situation is risky for the General Assembly.

“House Bill 1380 is a very controversial bill, and many people have very strong feelings about the issue of medical marijuana. The bill has been referred to the House Health Committee, and then the bill must be approved by two other committees before it reaches the House floor,” said Goodwin. “To my knowledge, no committee hearings have been scheduled on this bill, and no votes have been taken.”

That’s exactly what Parks doesn’t want to hear.

“If nobody says anything, the same thing that happened to South Carolina’s (medical marijuana legislation) is going to happen here,” he said. “They kicked it around to committees because no one wanted to touch it.”

Perhaps the Medical Marijuana Act will live out the rest of its days traveling from committee to committee. Perhaps, like so many chronically ill patients who choose marijuana, it will lay low, just beneath the radar, awaiting judgment with crossed fingers and bruised morale.

Maybe more people will come out and say what they really think.

“In my opinion, it would just be a legal way for a lot of people to use marijuana,” said Furr.

“Before I could take a position on the bill, I would want to hear a full and thorough debate and take into account the wishes of the citizens of my district as well as what is best for North Carolina,” said Goodwin.

But legalization supporters have seen smoke.

“We are certainly keeping an eye on what is going on in North Carolina,” said Mirken. “And we’re trying to give assistance on an awareness level.”

Advocates like Parks have chosen to stand next to the fire.