MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROPOSALS 'ONEROUS'

Speaker after speaker picked apart the rules and procedures proposed for
Hawai'i's medical marijuana program yesterday, calling them "onerous,"
"burdensome" and far beyond what legislators wanted.

At the first public hearing to discuss the proposed rules, patients,
marijuana advocates, health-care providers and others recited a litany of
problems they say threaten the program before it gets under way.

Among them:

Doctors will hesitate to certify patients for medical marijuana use, the
speakers said, when the doctors learn they have to monitor the amount of
patients' marijuana and report any changes in the patients' information
within five days.

A ban on carrying medical marijuana from island to island discriminates
against Neighbor Island patients, they said, many of whom must travel to
O'ahu for care.

The proposed $25 fee charged to both patients and their caregivers to
register with the state narcotics enforcement division is not required
under the law and will be a hardship. Others said it might not be enough to
keep the program running.

While the comments were sometimes contradictory, the overall sentiment was
summed up by Jeff Crawford, a former clinical psychologist who treated AIDS
patients who used marijuana.

"These rules would turn the compassionate act passed last April into an
expensive and risky bureaucratic maze for patients and physicians,"
Crawford said. "These unworkable rules represent an arrogant slap in the
face to the governor, our legislators and, most of all, the sick and
debilitated patients who have spent the past five months needlessly
suffering while law-enforcement bureaucrats ignored public input and wrote
these draconian restrictions."

Not all of the people who spoke yesterday focused on criticisms of the rules.

Paula Arcena, legislative and government affairs director for the Hawaii
Medical Association, repeated the organization's opposition to legalizing
medical marijuana.

The group, which has 1,700 members, believes the hazards of smoking mean
that marijuana should only be prescribed to terminally ill patients, Arcena
said.

The narcotics enforcement division will review the comments and decide
within 30 days whether any changes need to be made, said Pauline Namuo,
deputy director for administration for the Department of Public Safety,
which oversees the narcotics enforcement division.

Gov. Ben Cayetano signed the bill into law in June, making Hawai'i the
eighth state to legalize possession of marijuana when used for medical
treatment. The law allows people to use marijuana if they have a
"debilitating medical condition" such as cancer, glaucoma or AIDS or for a
medical condition that causes pain, nausea or other problems.

In the time since, patients have complained that they can't get marijuana
legally because no procedures have been put into place. Some have tried to
use their own registration forms, only to have them rejected by state
narcotics enforcement officials. Outlaw growers also have organized illegal
huis to provide marijuana.

But those who complained about the proposed rules yesterday also worried
that changing them will only result in further delays.

"People are dying painful deaths as we speak," said Kat Brady, who took
care of two terminally ill people. "Many people have been unable to
alleviate their agony. They are waiting. They know they are close, but how
long will it take? What will it take?"