Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jan 2001
Source: Rapid City Journal (SD)
Copyright: 2001 The Rapid City Journal
Contact:  PO Box 450, Rapid City SD 57709
Fax: (605) 394-8463
Website: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/
Author: Joe Kafka, AP writer

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL DISCUSSED IN LEGISLATURE

PIERRE - Use of marijuana for legitimate medical purposes should be allowed 
as a defense in trials involving marijuana charges, legislators were told 
Friday.

Making it clear he does not favor legalization of marijuana, Rep. Tom 
Hennies, R-Rapid City, pleaded with fellow members of the House Judiciary 
Committee to approve HB1120.

The bill says people charged with use or possession of marijuana may offer 
the defense of medical necessity in some instances, which would allow 
experts to testify that marijuana eases the health problems of the accused.

"We have a duty to try and find relief for these people," said Hennies, 
former police chief in Rapid City.

Exposure to neurological toxins as an Army nurse in the Gulf War caused her 
serious nerve damage, said Valerie Miller of Hill City. She told 
legislators that only marijuana has worked to ease her anxieties, seizures 
and hallucinations.

"It has helped me as a medicine," Miller said. "Since I've been using 
cannabis, the pain has decreased. I know it's illegal."

Rep. Duane Sutton, R-Aberdeen, said he met many terminally ill cancer 
patients last fall when he received radiation therapy after having his 
cancerous tonsils removed. Prescription drugs are provided before radiation 
to relieve the nausea, but often little can be done, he said.

If marijuana can help people with their nausea in such instances, it should 
be allowed, said Sutton, who added that he did not use it to relieve his 
nausea.

"I'm for any form of relief that we can give these people ... to ease some 
of their suffering and pain," he said.

Testifying against the bill, which was set aside until Wednesday, Assistant 
Attorney General Charlie McGuigan said allowing a medicinal marijuana 
defense would lead to more trials. And those trials would be costly because 
more experts would be called to testify, he said.

McGuigan also said the bill is wide open in terms of the amount of 
marijuana a person could have and still claim it's for medical purposes.

"There's nothing in here that limits the quantity," he said.

Even if such a defense is allowed in state courts and people successfully 
use it to get acquitted, they still could be prosecuted under federal law 
because marijuana possession is also a federal crime, McGuigan added.
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