Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jul 2005
Source: Shepherd Express (WI)
Contact:  2005 Alternative Publications Inc.
Website: http://www.shepherd-express.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/414
Author: Lisa Kaiser
Cited: Is My Medicine Legal YET? http://www.immly.org
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Gary+Storck
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jacki+Rickert

The Politics of Pot

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS ARE JUST GETTING STARTED

Rep. Gregg Underheim, a Republican legislator from Oshkosh, has a lot 
of support, even if it is silent.

When an issue has 65% support from the public, enacting sympathetic 
legislation would seem to be a no-brainer.

And when support reaches 80% in Wisconsin, you would think that our 
state representatives would be falling all over themselves to follow 
the will of the people.

But when the issue concerns that legalization of marijuana for 
medicinal purposes, things get complicated. On the one hand, there 
are those who understand-sometimes first hand-the usefulness and 
benefits of this sometimes lifesaving drug. Many of these people are 
living with cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV, glaucoma or chronic pain 
or illness.

Gary Storck, a medical marijuana activist in Madison, is one of those 
people. "As a small child, I found myself rapidly losing my 
eyesight," Storck said. "I would pray to God that I wouldn't go 
blind, and that's a horrible way to grow up. Eventually I was 
diagnosed with glaucoma."

Storck found out that smoking marijuana relieved the pressure in his 
eyes and in 1979 his doctor wrote him a note saying that if marijuana 
were legal, he would recommend it for Storck's condition. Since then, 
Storck has used it not only as part of his treatment for his 
glaucoma, but also to cope with other medical problems that he's battled.

"I've been on a lot of treatments, but this is reliable without 
having a lot of bad side effects," said Storck. Storck, along with 
Jacki Rickert, is at the head of Is My Medicine Legal Yet? (IMMLY), 
which is dedicated to educating the public about the benefits of 
medical marijuana.

Opposing seriously ill people like Storck are those who are stuck in 
the Reagan-era "just say no" mentality in which all drugs are 
suspect, unless they are concocted and marketed by big pharmaceutical 
companies. "Our national medical system relies on proven scientific 
research, not popular opinion," said John Walters, President Bush's 
drug czar, in a recent statement.

"The politics of this is fascinating," said Bruce Mirken of the 
Washington, D.C.,-based Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). He pointed to 
a nationwide Mason-Dixon poll conducted last month that showed that 
65% of those surveyed would support legalized medical marijuana. He 
added that a 2002 poll conducted by Chamberlin Research Consultants 
in Madison showed about 80% support in Wisconsin. "It's clear that 
this isn't a controversial issue for individuals, but a lot of 
politicians are afraid of being seen as being soft on drugs," he 
said. "But what other issue gets this high in polling?"

Mirken noted that in polls in Vermont and Rhode Island, most people 
favored legalizing medical marijuana, but they didn't realize that 
the majority agreed with them. Mirken concluded, "What we have is a 
majority that doesn't know it's a majority. But then the elected 
officials don't know that, either."

To illustrate the unpredictable political nature of this issue, the 
U.S. Supreme Court decided in June that the federal government 
retains its right to arrest and prosecute legal users of medical 
marijuana in states with official programs. Writing in the majority 
were some justices often assumed to be the more liberal ones-David 
Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Steven Breyer, Antonin Scalia, Anthony 
Kennedy and John Paul Stevens. The dissenters were Sandra Day 
O'Connor, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who 
was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2004.

The Wisconsin Idea

One elected official who does understand public sentiment is Rep. 
Gregg Underheim, a Republican from Oshkosh. The chair of the 
Committee on Health in the state Assembly, Underheim was diagnosed 
with cancer in 2002, but didn't have to undergo chemotherapy or 
radiation as part of his treatment. When he was recovering, he spoke 
to other cancer patients who helped him understand why medical 
marijuana benefits those who are seriously ill.

According to Underheim, marijuana has many medicinal properties. 
"There are a wide array of medical uses," Underheim said. "Marijuana 
more effectively deals with issues of appetite. When you are in 
chemotherapy, you can become violently ill. Marijuana quells the 
nausea and gives you an appetite. Also, AIDS patients are often rail 
thin from all of their medications, and marijuana helps bring back 
their appetite. When combined with opiates, marijuana has 
pain-relieving properties, and you are able to use a lesser amount of 
an opiate. There are also positive effects for those with MS and glaucoma."

Based on this evidence, Underheim introduced a bill last year that 
would allow for legal, regulated use of medical marijuana in the 
state. If this happens, users would be in a doctor's care, must 
register with the state and could possess only a small amount of 
marijuana. "Under my bill, a doctor could recommend it but not 
prescribe it," Underheim said. "If a registered patient were caught 
with a small amount, he or she would not be prosecuted."

Underheim plans to reintroduce similar legislation in the next few 
weeks, and if passed, Wisconsin would join 10 states with legalized 
programs. (See "Rhode Trip" to find out how Rhode Island is likely to 
become the next state to legalize medical marijuana.)

However, Underheim's proposed bill leaves open the question of how 
patients would acquire their marijuana. In his plan, there would be 
no growing clubs, personal plants or sanctioned pharmacies. "I've 
remained silent on acquisition," he said. "I couldn't think of any 
way that would be acceptable."

The lack of access worries an activist and user like Gary Storck. 
"This puts patients in a tight spot," he said. "If you grow it, 
you're facing potentially a long time [in jail] if you're caught. 
Besides, if you're in chemo you could be dead before you grow a crop. 
Your friends or family could help you out or you could get it on the 
street, but that's medicine of uncertain quality and you risk being arrested."

Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) sponsored the state Senate's version 
of the medical marijuana bill last year. Like many other politicians 
involved in this issue, Carpenter is responding to the concerns of 
those in his district on Milwaukee's South Side.

"We'd been contacted by many constituents who were HIV positive or 
had cancer or leukemia," Carpenter said. "They thought that marijuana 
was lifesaving medication that could help alleviate the devastating 
side effects of their treatments."

Carpenter is willing to let the details of any proposed legislation 
work themselves out, but said that he would support a program that 
would fall under the supervision of the Department of Health and 
Family Services. "I'm also willing to sit down with the attorney 
general and law enforcement to talk about it from all perspectives 
and get their input," he said.

He added that the public needs to voice their opinion, too. "If the 
bill comes up for a public hearing, it's important that people make 
their feelings known," he said. "We want to deal with this in a 
humane way and alleviate people's pain and suffering."

Underheim welcomed public input, too-at both the state and national 
levels. "The real battle is convincing federal legislators to change 
the laws," he said.

The Federal Question

While Underheim portrayed what's playing out at the federal level as 
a battlefield, medical marijuana advocates shouldn't lose hope. 
Although the drug czar Walters said that the Supreme Court's decision 
"marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue," others 
would say that the battle is just heating up.

Just after the decision, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on 
an amendment that would stop federal raids on those who use medical 
marijuana. While the measure was defeated, it showed more support 
than previous versions of the proposal had gained.

Many Republicans voted in favor of it-especially those who represent 
states with legalized medical marijuana programs-and all of 
Wisconsin's Democratic representatives agreed. However, none of our 
Republican elected officials-including James Sensenbrenner (Menomonee 
Falls), Mark Green (Green Bay), Paul Ryan (Waukesha) and Tom Petri 
(Fond du Lac) -dared to support this bipartisan legislation.

In addition, the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, authored by 
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and co-sponsored by Rep. Tammy Baldwin 
(D-Madison), was also introduced in the House. It more or less tells 
the federal government to get out of a state's way if it chooses to 
enact a medical marijuana law.

Nationwide, the issue will continue to crop up in individual states 
and will likely put pressure on federal legislators. "This is a 
classic example of an issue that's bubbling up at the state level," 
Mirken of MPP said.

While advocates frame the issue as an urgent one that will alleviate 
the suffering of those who are seriously ill, the Bush administration 
has a far different take on the issue. "For them, this is the sign of 
the apocalypse," Mirken said. "They continue to say that there's no 
benefit from using medical marijuana. But it's sort of like the 
Soviet Union under Brezhnev-they're propping up a system that nobody 
believes in anymore."

Advocate Gary Storck said that politicians and the public should 
think about the implications of banning medicinal marijuana. "In a 
nation that prides itself on being compassionate, it's extremely 
cruel to withhold this medication from our most defenseless and 
vulnerable," Storck said.

"Serious illness can strike at any time. Think about if that day 
comes for you. You would want to have all treatment options available 
to you. This ban is irrational, cruel and it's got to end."

A Dose Of Reality

The anti-medical marijuana crowd tends to argue that legal users are 
zonked-out stoners who use their medical conditions as excuses to get 
high, and get others high, too.

But that doesn't appear to be the case.

Marijuana's reputation as the favored drug of '60s hippies and 
experimenting teenagers is still working against it today.

"Marijuana has a bad name in some quarters,"Republican state Rep. 
Gregg Underheim said. "It's seen as a gateway drug for younger people."

Some say that smoking medical marijuana would lead to addiction. But 
state Sen. Tim Carpenter pointed to OxyContin, a legal prescription 
painkiller and a sought-after street drug, as one of the most 
addictive drugs around. "But nobody said, gee, legalizing it will put 
more of it out there for people to abuse," Carpenter said.

The anti-medical marijuana crowd often argues that the prescribed 
cannabis can wind up in the hands of others for fun and recreation, 
what's called "diversion" in medical marijuana terminology. That, 
too, is a myth.

"In states where you see the medical usage of marijuana you see no 
real diversion," Underheim said. "People are responsible in their use 
of it and they'd be reluctant to give their medication to others."

Taking on the "stoner" stigma, medical marijuana advocate Gary Storck 
said that relaxation and improved mood from smoking marijuana are 
pleasant side effects, not a reason for banning it.

"As far as euphoria goes, what's so wrong with feeling good?" he 
asked. "If you're sick, and this makes you feel better without a lot 
of bad side effects, why not use it?"

[sidebar]

RHODE TRIP

How a Small, Heavily Catholic State Became Poised to Legalize Medical 
Marijuana - And What it Means for the Rest of Us. By Ian Donnis

Coming less than 24 hours after the U.S. Supreme Court supported the 
federal government's right to prosecute sick people who use 
marijuana, the Rhode Island Senate's emphatic June 7 vote in support 
of medical marijuana may have come as a surprise-to everyone but 
Rhode Islanders.

On the surface, the tremendous 34-2 bipartisan support shown for the 
medical-marijuana bill was curious. After all, Rhode Island is a 
heavily Catholic state where, despite an independent streak and an 
overwhelmingly Democratic General Assembly, most legislators are 
social conservatives, and the popular Republican governor, Donald L. 
Carcieri, strongly opposes the very concept. Then again, in the 
smallest of states, where everyone, it seems, knows someone who might 
benefit from medical marijuana to treat cancer, AIDS, multiple 
sclerosis or some other debilitating illness, the bill's passage 
makes perfect sense.

Take the case of State Representative Thomas C. Slater 
(D-Providence), a 30-year veteran of the Marine Corps Reserves who 
describes himself as a strong opponent of recreational marijuana use. 
Slater, 64, became a highly visible proponent-the lead sponsor in the 
House this session-after studying up on the subject. The issue 
touches close to home for him, since he has been treated for cancer 
and the disease has affected a number of people in his family.

Adds Rep. Raymond J. Sullivan Jr. (D-Coventry), "When you sit across 
the table from someone who tells you they only have seven, eight or 
nine months to live, and say that this is the only thing that can 
help them get through the day-whether it be eating or relaxing their 
muscles, whatever issue that might be-I don't know how we can look 
that person in the eye and tell them that we're going to treat them 
like a criminal."

The bill's success is due, at least in part, to the campaign waged 
year after year by proponents such as Sen. Rhoda Perry 
(D-Providence). The main Senate sponsor, Perry offered poignant 
testimony of how her nephew, Edward O. Hawkins, suffered before dying 
from AIDS at age 41 last year. But while Perry is an unabashed 
liberal, support in recent years from groups such as the Rhode Island 
Medical Society and the Rhode Island State Nurses Association, as 
well as from AIDS Project Rhode Island and the local chapter of the 
ACLU, reflects just how mainstream medical marijuana has become.

Ultimately, though, its success is because in this tiny state of just 
over one million people, the personal tends to become political a lot 
faster than it does anywhere else.

So when related legislation passed the last hurdle in the Senate on 
June 28-quickly, without discussion, and on a 33-1 vote-it was as 
though it were the blandest and most pedestrian of bills, in spite of 
Gov. Carcieri's veto the very next day.

The Senate overrode Carcieri's veto, 28-6, on June 30, and support is 
likely to remain similarly strong when the House takes up the 
measure, probably within a few weeks.

Not Fade Away

Rhode Island's medical-marijuana bill would protect doctors, patients 
and caregivers from state prosecution if a state-certified physician 
finds that marijuana might aid a Rhode Island resident suffering from 
a "chronic or debilitating" medical condition. It does not outline a 
source for the marijuana, although patients with state-issued 
registration cards would be able to possess up to 12 plants or 2.5 
ounces of "usable marijuana" at a time. In an amendment that 
bolstered legislative support, the initiative would cease on June 30, 
2007, unless legislators voted to continue it.

Proponents hail what's happening in Rhode Island as a clear rebuke to 
federal assertions that the states' legalization of medical marijuana 
has been rendered moot. As the MPP pointed out in a statement last 
week, "no authority has ever declared state medical marijuana laws 
unconstitutional."

Gov. Carcieri's spokesman Jeff Neal says the governor's opposition to 
medical marijuana stems from his belief that insufficient controls 
exist for the production and distribution of the drug, as well as the 
related concern that "illegal marijuana use could proliferate 
throughout the state, and that marijuana could become much more 
accessible on the streets."

The governor has also pointed to the Supreme Court's ruling in 
explaining his opposition to legalizing medical marijuana in Rhode 
Island. Critics, however, say Carcieri was less concerned about 
diverging from national mandates when he allowed a measure legalizing 
prescription-drug imports from Canada to become law in 2004, despite 
a warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that federal law 
would trump it.

While state-sanctioned patients would have to obtain their marijuana 
from an illegal source, they appear unlikely to face federal 
prosecution. Anthony Pettigrew, the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration's spokesman in New England, said, "The DEA has never 
targeted the sick and dying, but rather criminals [involved] in drug 
cultivation and trafficking. We'll target major trafficking 
organizations and take them apart."

Although 10 states have legalized medical marijuana-Alaska, 
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont 
and Washington-moving similar initiatives forward remains a challenge 
even in a place with as liberal a reputation as Massachusetts (all 
but two of these states, Vermont and Hawaii, enacted their laws 
through ballot initiatives, indicating that elected officials are 
afraid to act on the public's wishes).

Medical marijuana may remain an uphill battle, but it's far from 
settled. "I think this issue is not going to die," says Marc Genest, 
a professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island.

What are the lessons of Rhode Island? Advocates invariably return to 
the importance of grassroots organizing and the message of 
compassion. But the larger message, Mirken says, "is that the public 
is several steps ahead of Congress and the White House, at least in 
terms of being willing to look at drug policy in a pragmatic, 
common-sense way. A lot of people who don't like drug abuse and who 
would like to see the misuse of drugs curbed are willing to look at 
things with an open mind, and say that if someone with cancer or MS 
can get a little bit of relief from marijuana, there's no reason that 
they ought to be casualties in the war on drugs."

Printed with the permission of The Boston Phoenix.

[sidebar]

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)

www.mpp.org The non-profit MPP is the largest marijuana reform 
organization in the country and works toward minimizing the harm 
linked to marijuana.

Is My Medicine Legal Yet (IMMLY)

www.immly.org This Madison- and Mondovi-based organization is headed 
by Gary Storck and Jacki Rickert and is "dedicated to furthering 
access, public education and research regarding the therapeutic uses 
of cannabis."

Medical Marijuana Pro And Con

www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org This site provides a balanced, 
comprehensive look at all aspects of the medical marijuana debate.

Wisconsin NORML

www.winorml.org Information about the state chapter of National 
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law. According to their Web 
site, "WI NORML supports the right of adults to use marijuana 
responsibly, whether for medical or recreational purposes."

Office of National Drug Control Policy

www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov The official word from the government. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake