Pubdate: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) - Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services Copyright: 1998 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Author: Naftali Bendavid (KRT) MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVES MAY BE FIRST PROPOSALS FOR RELAXING DRUG LAWS WASHINGTON -- Renee Emry walked into the office of Rep. Bill McCollum last month and did something rarely seen in a congressional suite: She lit up a marijuana cigarette. Emry, 38, suffers from multiple sclerosis, and she wanted to urge McCollum, R-Fla., to support the legalization of marijuana as medicine for patients like herself. ``I find that when I medicate appropriately, it calms my nerves, so I fired up a fatty,''said Emry, who came here from Ann Arbor, Mich., on behalf of a group called the Marijuana Policy Project. ``It's not like I was trying to be rude, crude and totally uncalled for. I was there to educate the man.'' Whisked away by Capitol police, Emry faces trial on a drug charge in December. Not so easily ushered away is the issue itself. Medical marijuana initiatives may be the first proposals for relaxing the drug laws that have gained significant support since the war on drugs began in earnest in the early 1980s. Voters in California and Arizona approved medical marijuana initiatives two years ago. Five more Western states, plus the District of Columbia, will vote on similar proposals next Tuesday, and polls released by supporters this week suggest they will win handily. While those polls may be suspect, the public does face a real prospect of waking up after election day to find that medical marijuana is legal, at least in theory, in seven states that cover about one-fifth of the population. Police, prosecutors and federal officials are beside themselves with frustration. The initiatives' popularity suggests that many people are rejecting the message that marijuana is a dangerous ``gateway'' to stronger drugs, and see marijuana instead as potentially therapeutic. ``This is a way to legally introduce people to possibly a lifetime of drug abuse,'' said John Justice, a South Carolina prosecutor who heads the National District Attorneys Association. ``The drug problem from stem to stern in this country is tremendous, and I knew a judge who used to call marijuana `the kindergarten of the drug industry.''' The proposals' supporters hope they are establishing a beachhead, and that eventually marijuana will be legally available from doctors nationwide. The initiatives' popularity raises the question of how, after years of anti-drug ads and horror stories, so many people still view marijuana as a benign force. If some or all of the initiatives pass next week in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Alaska and the District of Columbia, political leaders and police will have to deal with the fact that the new state laws will be at odds with federal law on the subject. ``Legally there is little significance if these things pass, but politically there is a lot of significance,'' said Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. ``Members of Congress might start to re-evaluate their position.'' It is not entirely an accident that medical marijuana is catching on now. A group called Americans for Medical Rights, headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., is pushing the crusade with small staffs in several states. AMR is bankrolled by three millionaires: financier George Soros, insurance magnate Peter Lewis and John Sperling, who owns a successful chain of adult education centers. The three have spent a total of just over $2 million on the cause. The campaign is airing commercials that stress the theme of compassion. An Oregon television spot, for example, shows an avuncular doctor bemoaning his inability to help patients suffering with chemotherapy. ``Please, let us treat you with every medicine that can help,'' Dr. Rick Bayer begs viewers. Public officials and anti-drug activists are furious at this campaign. But there is little organized opposition or advertising on the other side, and that is one reason supporters are confident of victory. Rep. McCollum, who pushed through a congressional resolution against medical marijuana, claimed the drug can actually hurt patients by weakening their immune systems. It is misleading for the initiatives to suggest that marijuana would be available at the corner drugstore, McCollum added, when in fact it would remain illegal to sell it even if the initiatives pass. ``It is always phrased as though the doctor is going to provide a prescription,'' McCollum said. ``In reality, there is no prescription. The doctor gives you a chit and you can go down the street and buy it from anyone.'' Opponents see a sinister agenda, the legalization of all drugs, hiding behind the mask of compassion. ``They are taking the case to the voters in the most obnoxious and irresponsible way, crafting television commercials that appeal to compassion for the terminally ill,'' said Sue Rusche, executive director of the anti-drug group National Families in Action. ``Who doesn't have compassion for the terminally ill?'' Behind the social question -- is this just a way for old hippies to push through drug legalization? -- is a medical one: Does marijuana really have therapeutic value? Doctors are somewhat divided. Supporters of medical marijuana say it fights the nausea caused by chemotherapy and by AIDS treatments, allowing some patients to keep their strength at a crucial level. Marijuana is also said to relax the cramped and spasmodic muscles that torment some multiple sclerosis patients. But opponents say the evidence is far from conclusive. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved marijuana as safe and effective, and the Drug Enforcement Administration lists it as a ``Schedule I'' drug, meaning it has no medicinal value. Barry McCaffrey, the nation's drug czar, held a news conference Tuesday to drive home that point and to blast the state proposals. ``We need to leave medicine to the scientists and doctors of America,'' McCaffrey said. ``American medicine is the best in the world, and it's not based on this kind of malarkey.'' That, however, is not the view of Stormy Ray, a multiple sclerosis patient in Oregon. She began smoking marijuana in 1991, she said, when her regular medicines stopped working. ``I was absolutely amazed,'' said Ray, a grandmother who said she had opposed drugs. ``It was like somebody finally found the right way to turn my body back on. It took away the nerve pain. I could not imagine anything being able to do that.'' If the initiatives do pass, that could be just the beginning of a tangled legal battle. The sale and possession of marijuana still would violate federal law, which takes precedence over state law. In California, which passed a medical marijuana measure in 1996, legal confusion prevails. Federal authorities say they will crack down on doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients, but a court has put a temporary hold on that crackdown, and the final outcome is in doubt. - --- Checked-by: Patrick Henry