ONCE AGAIN the cancer diagnosis of a well-known national figure -- in this case Sen. Ted Kennedy -- has sparked a flurry of interest in efforts to treat and cure this frustrating, complex and deadly illness. One of the most promising areas of research involves a group of chemicals whose origins may seem shocking.

The chemicals, called cannabinoids, are the active components in marijuana.

Yes, marijuana, the very same drug that seems to generate endless controversy here and abroad, and that our government still claims causes cancer -- a claim that appears to stand reality on its head.

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The Senate recently voted 29-6 to pass legislation allowing the establishment of marijuana dispensaries in order to provide a safe venue for patients prescribed medical marijuana to obtain the drug.

Sponsored by Senator Rhoda Perry (D-Dist. 3), the bill would fill a hole in current law whereby patients prescribed medical marijuana are unable to safely obtain it.

Perry sponsored the bill that created Rhode Island's medical marijuana program two years ago along with House sponsor Rep. Thomas C. Slater (D-Dist. 10). He is also sponsoring the dispensary legislation this year in the House version of the bill, H-7888. The House Health, Education and Welfare Committee held that bill for further study in early April.

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PROVIDENCE -- For the second year in a row, state lawmakers have approved a bill to wipe out the state's mandatory minimum sentences for serious drug crimes, such as the sale of heroin, cocaine or significant amounts of marijuana.

And for the second year in a row, Republican Governor Carcieri is likely to veto it.

Since this "is essentially the same bill that went to the governor last year, and he vetoed it, it is reasonable to believe it will receive the same treatment this year," said Carcieri spokeswoman Barbara Trainor in response to inquiries after the measure cleared its final legislative hurdle yesterday.

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PROVIDENCE -- The Senate approved legislation yesterday that would create "compassion centers" where chronically ill patients enrolled in the state's medical marijuana program could openly purchase the drug.

Despite the 29-to-6 vote, the bill faces opposition in the House of Representatives and is not expected to become law this year.

"I would really have to have a sock over my head if I didn't know that," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence. The legislation is named in part for her nephew, Edward O. Hawkins, who died of complications from AIDS and cancer.

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PROVIDENCE - A bill to create "compassion centers" to dispense medical marijuana that appeared headed for passage in the Senate was derailed at the last minute by an amendment that would have forbidden smoking the drug in cars or where children are present.

When the oral amendment offered by Sen. Leo Blais passed on a vote of 18-16, the sponsor of the original bill, Sen. Rhoda Perry, moved to have the measure sent back to the committee she chairs for a second try at having the bill pass without the amendment.

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State Allows Drug Use For Suffering Patients

A year after making medical marijuana legal for patients to use, Rhode Island lawmakers say it's time to establish a safe and legal means for them to obtain the drug.

Right now, qualifying patients may grow marijuana, but they can't legally buy it. As a result, they often resort to buying it on the street.

Some legislators and doctors call that scenario an unwanted weak link in an otherwise successful law. They've heard too many stories like that of Buddy Coolen, 29, a medical marijuana user who three months ago was robbed at gunpoint by a drug dealer while trying to buy marijuana to treat his debilitating gastrointestinal condition.

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I agree with the editorial in favor of changing the federal law in order to protect patients in states that have permitted marijuana for medical use. However, in your article on Feb. 14, titled "Marijuana quandary," you have one important omission in regard to the existence of national legislation. I have in fact introduced that very legislation in every year since 1997.

The States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act would give effect to decisions made by the states to prescribe marijuana when, in the physicians' medical judgment, it is an appropriate treatment. This bill would allow states, by their appropriate decision-making processes and without fear of federal interference, to decide if they wish to let physicians practicing medicine in those states add marijuana to the long list of substances they can prescribe when they believe it to be medically indicated. Furthermore, my bill would put a stop to federal raids and criminal penalties on patients who are following state law by eliminating federal penalties related to the medical use of marijuana in states where the activity has been approved by the legislature or the people (through the referendum or initiative process).

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I'm writing about Bob Kerr's outstanding March 26 column: "Time to legalize marijuana." The headline should have been: "Time to re-legalize marijuana." For most of our nation's history, marijuana was legal. And contrary to the Reefer Madness propaganda and lies that created the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 that criminalized marijuana, we had almost no problems with marijuana or its users.

There are two types of people who support the continued criminalization of marijuana: Those with a vested financial interest in the prohibition of marijuana. This includes drug-war cheerleading politicians who are probably on the payroll of the drug cartels; and suckers -- taxpayers who pay to support the world's largest prison system, our unwinnable war on drugs and who have bought into the propaganda and lies of the drug-war bureaucracy and industry.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

PROVIDENCE -- A year after passing permanent medical marijuana legislation, lawmakers say it's time to establish a safe and legal means for patients to obtain the drug.

Right now, qualifying patients may grow marijuana, but since the state provides no access to the drug, they often resort to buying it on the street.

Legislators and doctors call that scenario an unwanted weak link in an otherwise successful law. They've heard too many stories like that of Warwick's Buddy Coolen, 29, a medical marijuana user who three months ago was robbed at gunpoint by the drug dealer while trying to buy marijuana to treat his debilitating gastrointestinal condition.

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Marijuana can get silly. Sure, it can do damage when it becomes a constant alternative to reality. But in too many ways it has become a slapstick prop, causing people in uniform to run around and around until they fall down. Or run into each other. And that's without smoking it.

The funniest movie about marijuana is Reefer Madness. It features an actor who sucks madly on a joint, then turns into a crazed killer.

That image is decades old and comically out of touch. But it is one that some people cling to even today in trying to give marijuana a place in the war on drugs that is totally unjustified.

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A recent court decision in California highlights the ongoing dilemma faced by medical users of marijuana. Former Air Force mechanic Gary Ross sued after the telecommunications company he was working for fired him over use of the drug, even though he possessed a doctor's recommendation. Mr. Ross had been using marijuana under the state's 12-year-old Compassionate Use Act to ease chronic pain from a back injury. He did not seek to use the drug on the job but rather on his own time.

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When do the police have a right to look between your buttocks to see if there are drugs hidden there?

A federal appeals court addressed that question this week in overturning a ruling that said a Woonsocket police officer lacked the reasonable suspicion required to check for drugs between Kenny Barnes' buttocks.

Barnes, 28, of Woonsocket, is charged with possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute. Barnes was strip searched after his arrest, and when the police told him he had to undergo a visual cavity search, he "reached behind his back and removed a bag containing cocaine base from between his buttocks," according to the decision. (Crack cocaine is a form of cocaine base.)

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PROVIDENCE -- Civil-rights leaders and politicians made a last ditch effort yesterday to get the General Assembly to override Governor Carcieri's veto and abolish the state's minimum mandatory drug sentencing laws.

The big question remains: Will the issue be presented for an override at Tuesday's special session of the General Assembly?

House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino, D-Providence, said yesterday that the leadership had not committed to an agenda for the special session. Translation: It's anyone's guess whether the issue of minimum mandatory drug sentencing will be heard next week.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I.-When 17-year-old Dennys George was arrested this summer, allegedly for carrying 10 grams of crack cocaine, he was taken handcuffed and shackled to the state prison's high-security wing-not a juvenile facility.

George said he was strip-searched and spent the night in a cell with another teen. Though he didn't have contact with older inmates, he wouldn't shower because he was afraid of being near them.

"They told me, 'You're going to spend some time with the big boys,'" George said, recounting a talk with police. "I was so stressed, I didn't even know what was going to happen to me."

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On Monday, Sept. 24, members from a diverse group of local organizations, including RIC students and alumni, gathered in front of the State House to speak out against Governor Donald L. Carcieri's recent vetoes on several bills; encouraging the legislature to set a date for a special override session. Those present included members from the ACLU, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), Marriage Equality RI, Ocean State Action, SEIU Local 1199 and United Nurses & Allied Professionals as well as members from the Rhode Island College and Brown chapters of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP).

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My name is no longer Mommy or simple Kel.

My name is Kelly who suffers from fibromyalga, Multiple Sclerosis and pain from hell.

It is hard to wake up and put a smile on my face.

When at times my world is a very dark place.

My husband and children can light up my life....

I do my best I can to be a wonderful mother and loving wife.

My illnesses are known as the beast within...

However smoking marijuana helps me fight the battle to win.

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The old life of Kelly Powers began to slip away two years ago.

Her husband had bought her a new motorcycle for her 31st birthday, but during the vision test for her license, Powers realized something was wrong.

She'd been getting chronic headaches and was clumsy at times. She had trouble holding a bottle for her infant daughter. Then her hands couldn't seem to hold her baby.

It was multiple sclerosis. Within a year, the disease was claiming enough of her body that she had to give up her daycare business and retreat to her bed.

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Michael D. Cutler's Aug. 6 column, "An opportunity for Edwards to lead," is a well thought-out article. However, I believe a politician's position on the drug war is a leading indicator of his character, or lack thereof.

This would be a good shot for John Edwards to at least talk about the war over here vs. the war over there. Well, this will not happen because we have a panel of cowards on the Democratic as well as the Republican side.

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The original Prohibition - of alcoholic beverages - was an abysmal failure, and the sequel is worse. America is hungry for honest politicians ("An opportunity for Edwards to lead," by Michael D. Cutler, Commentary, Aug. 6) to oppose the so-called war on drugs.

Other political leaders who fit the description are Ohio's Dennis Kucinich and Texas's Ron Paul. At the very minimum America must re-legalize cannabis and regulate it like alcohol. Murder rates decreased for 10 years after the repeal of the original Prohibition and there's reason to believe ending the sequel will have similar effects.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

BROOKLINE -- SEN. JOHN EDWARDS'S chances of passing Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination seem slim and none at the moment. Edwards must get a more compelling plan to lift America and demonstrate leadership, or his campaign is doomed.

Clinton and Obama will not be out-spent, out-organized or out-messaged, unless Edwards seizes voter interest on an issue with the impact of the Iraq War. Re-declaring war on poverty will not pass his competitors, and declaring peace in Iraq is not a distinction.

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