Pubdate: Thu, 16 Nov 2006
Source: Bedford Minuteman (Concord, MA)
Copyright: 2006 Bedford Minuteman
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/bedford/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3584
Author: Ben Aaronson, Staff Writer

MEDICAL MARIJUANA QUESTION PASSES

Supporters of Question 4 on Last Week's Election Ballot Gave New 
Meaning to the Concept of Grassroots Campaigning.

Nearly 70 percent of Bedford voters cast their ballots in favor of 
the nonbinding initiative, which calls for legislation that would 
allow seriously ill patients to possess and grow small amounts of 
marijuana for medical use.

The Public Policy Question appeared on ballots in the nine 
communities that make up the 3rd Middlesex Senatorial District, 
represented by Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, who heads the Joint 
Committee on Public Health. The ballot initiative also appeared in 
parts of Milton and Randolph, which comprise the 7th Norfolk 
Representative District, represented by Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry. The 
question was passed in all 11 communities by an average margin of 67 percent.

Bill Downing, director of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition 
(MASS CANN), said the showing of public support did not surprise him. 
According to Downing, more than 110 communities across the state have 
voted in favor of various marijuana reform questions since 2000.

"The election results matched exactly with the results we've been 
seeing on all of our ballot questions in the past. Almost half the 
state has voted on these issues now," said Downing.

MASS CANN, the state affiliate of the National Organization for the 
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), worked directly with the Drug 
Policy Forum of Massachusetts, which sponsored two marijuana-related 
ballot questions in this year's elections, Downing said. A question 
regarding the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana 
appeared on ballots in the 1st and 12th Plymouth Representative 
Districts, passing by a margin of 61 and 60 percent, respectively.

Downing said he is hopeful the passing of the nonbinding initiative 
at the polls will soon translate into the passing of binding 
legislation at the State House. Downing said previous marijuana 
reform bills have been tied up in committee and never reached the 
House or Senate floors, but that pressure is building on legislators 
to act on what seems to be a public mandate.

"Politicians are reticent to take stands on issues unless they have 
to. The goal of these ballot initiatives was to force the politicians 
to take a stand and represent their constituents," Downing said.

While legislators have largely ignored past proposals for the 
decriminalization of marijuana, Downing said MASS CANN and other 
marijuana reform groups have had some success in pushing medical 
marijuana bills.

In 1993, then Gov. Bill Weld signed a bill establishing a state 
therapeutic research program to perform studies on the medicinal 
benefits of marijuana, Downing said. The program never got off the 
ground, however, as the federal Drug Enforcement Agency refused to 
supply marijuana to the state Department of Public Health, he said. 
This year's ballot question supports legislation that would 
circumvent the DEA supply ban by allowing medical marijuana patients 
to grow small amounts of the drug for personal use, Downing said.

According to the American Medical Association, the main psychoactive 
substance in marijuana, THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), may have 
medical applications in treating many diseases. According to the AMA, 
studies have shown that THC may be effective in reducing malnutrition 
and weight loss in HIV/AIDS patients, chemotherapy-induced nausea and 
vomiting in cancer patients, intraocular pressure in glaucoma 
patients, and spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis and 
other movement disorders.

Doctors are telling their patients that marijuana could help their 
symptoms, Downing said, but they can't get it for them because it is 
a controlled substance.

"You've got people who are suffering from serious diseases who are 
being forced out into the black market to buy it from heroin dealers 
on the street. Politicians always talk about not wanting to send the 
wrong message to our kids, but what kind of message does that send?" 
Downing said.

Detective Lt. Scott Jones of the Bedford Police Department said 
legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana would not have a big impact 
from a law enforcement point of view. If such legislation were to 
pass, Jones said, police officers would treat cases of marijuana 
possession like any other prescription drug

"I don't know that it would make things any harder for us. The way it 
is now with drug possession cases, we have to prove that it is a 
controlled substance and that it was possessed illegally," Jones 
said. "If someone claimed it was for a medical reason, it would be up 
to us to prove that they didn't have a legitimate right to the drug."

Selectman Sheldon Moll said he does not support the distribution of 
drugs in general, but that he is in favor of it if there is a clear 
medical benefit. Moll said he had a friend many years ago who was 
suffering from Hodgkin's Disease, a form of lymphatic cancer. Moll 
said the only way his friend could relieve the pain from his 
treatments was to take marijuana.

"I don't like the idea of drugs in our society. But if something 
helps somebody and it's not being abused, how can you be against it?" Moll said.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine