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MEDICAL MARIJUANA SUPPORTERS EXPECT EASIER ROAD THIS YEAR

ANNAPOLIS - Medical marijuana proponents are optimistic about their chances of passing legislation that would give chronically ill or terminal patients the legal opportunity to use marijuana without fear of prosecution. 

On Wednesday, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and members of the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee held a public hearing on a bill sponsored by EHEA Chairwoman Paula C.  Hollinger, Del.  Dan K.  Morhaim, D-Baltimore, and Sen.  David R.  Brinkley, R-Carroll/Frederick. 

The bill would create a research program through the Board of Physicians Quality Assurance for the medical use of marijuana that would regularly report to the legislature about the basic safety, efficacy and nature of its medical use.  The bill would also allow patients suffering from specific serious illnesses, their doctors and, in some instances, the patient's primary caregiver to apply to participate in the research program with protection from arrest and prosecution for the medical use of marijuana. 

"The least that we can do is to do what we can to alleviate the pain," Hollinger said.  "This is a very pressing issue for people that are suffering.  It's no different thatn someone having morphine or codine or other schedule I drugs."

But supporters, such as Sen.  Nancy Jacobs, R-Harford/Cecil, are concerned that the bill allows patients to grow their own marijuana plants.  The bill restricts the number of plants to seven - three which may be mature and the patient can only possess one usable ounce of marijuana per mature plant. 

"You've got to get it figured out where they're going to get the plants or seeds in this bill," Jacobs told the bill sponsors.  "We shouldn't legalize [patients] taking these risks.  ...  I've never seen anyone out selling seeds."

Brinkley said that while the supply of marijuana and several other issues are important to the bill sponsors, this is a first step to give people suffering a chance at relief from their pain and from prosecution. 

"We're trying to get the state off the backs of the patients first," Brinkley said.  "People are already doing this now.  ...  These people don't have the luxury of time."

Eric Sterling, of the Marijuana Policy Project, suggested that the committee considering amending the bill and allowing the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources be allowed to grow the marijuana for distribution to qualifying patients. 

But the bill's opponents, including George Butler, a drug investigator for the Carroll County state's attorney, contend that the passage of a medical marijuana bill would send children the wrong message about drug use. 

"I think our youth are watching what you're doing here," Butler told the committee.  "I would like to think that there are other drugs out there other than marijuana to help these people."

However, Butler and the one other opponent that spoke Wednesday were overshadowed by personal testimony from people that testified that they have used or currently use marijuana to help relieve their pain. 

Erin Hildebrandt, of Smithsburg, suffers from Crohn's disease - an incurable disease that may inflame the small and large intestines - and serious migraines said that she uses marijuana to help maintain a normal life. 

She said that before she tried marijuana, she was confined to bed and that the only time she left was to go to the bathroom or to the hospital for help.  She said that her migraines sent her to the emergency room on average three times a week, but since she started using marijuana she hasn't been back to the emergency room in three years. 

But either option - under current law - leaves her with few options when it comes to taking care of her five children. 

"I have to wonder every day, will I be disabled by illness or thrown into jail?" she asked the committee.  "This is just wrong and you have the power to change this.  I'm begging you, please, pass this bill as soon as possible."

Donald Murphy, a former delegate that spearheaded medical marijuana legislation last year, said that the chances the bill will pass this year are much greater.  He said one of the biggest changes this year was the election.  He said that former Sen.  Timothy R.  Ferguson's loss to Brinkley is indicative of people's opinions on medical marijuana. 

"That was a big issue during the primary election," Murphy said.  "Think of the message that his defeat sends to Republicans."

Murphy said that he thinks that the bill has the votes in both Senate committees to bring the bill to the floor for a final vote. 

The two committees will vote on the issue in the coming weeks.  If both approve the bill, it will go before the Senate for a final vote and then be sent to the House of Delegates for consideration. 

A twin bill is also filed in the House and is scheduled for a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday.