BACKERS OF 3 MEDICAL MARIJUANA RELATED PROPOSALS SEEK VOTERS

Dana Copp of Springdale is a retired medical doctor who supports
legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, specifically to help ease
chronic pain or pain from terminal illness such as cancer and AIDS.

Although he says he has never smoked the illegal drug, Copp, 69, who
is retired from federal government employment in the Public Health
Service, said he knows people who turned to it because of their
unbearable pain.

He also has read numerous articles supporting the use of marijuana as
a medicinal drug.

"I'm not a front man, a flag-waver for the cause," he said. "I'm
simply an individual who sees an inappropriate kind of a response to a
logical kind of treatment."

Copp isn't for legalizing marijuana, and he's not for reducing the
penalty for possession of the drug.

The doctor recently joined forces with the Alliance for the Reform of
Drug Policy in Arkansas to support an initiated act that would provide
that people may smoke marijuana for health problems if they have a
doctor's permission.

Denele Campbell of Fayetteville, president of the organization, said
the proposal is patterned after an Oregon law.

Supporters of the measure have until July 7 to collect at least 56,481
signatures of registered Arkansas voters to get the act on the ballot
for the general election, which is to occur Nov. 7.

Similar measures that allow marijuana for medicinal purposes have been
approved in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, and in
Washington, D.C., Campbell said.

Inhaling small amounts of marijuana helps alleviate nausea and
increases appetite, she said.

The Arkansas proposal would require the state Department of Health to
help administer a medicinal marijuana program. It would have
physicians who deem marijuana necessary in the treatment of their
patients notify the department.

The department would be required to issue a registry identification
card to the patient, which would state the patient could legally smoke
certain amounts of marijuana as recommended by the doctor. Under
federal law, physicians are not allowed to actually prescribe
marijuana, Campbell said.

The registry identification cards would also protect the patients from
criminal charges by the state so long as they did not exceed the
amount of marijuana the doctor recommended that they have.

The department has said that marijuana is harmful to a person's brain,
lungs, immune system, memory, perception, judgment and motivation, and
that any benefits to easing pain are unfounded. The department also
has said it does not support any plan to legalize the drug for
medicinal purposes.

A rally to show support for the measure and to collect signatures is
scheduled for 2 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Laman Library at 2801 N. Orange.
St. in North Little Rock.

This proposal is not the only one vying for the attention and approval
of Arkansas voters. Two others also are being promoted for the 2000
ballot.

One that has the specific endorsement of the Arkansas chapter of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, also known as
NORML, would limit the penalty for possession of an ounce or less of
marijuana to a $200 fine with no imprisonment, according to Glen
Schwarz of Little Rock, past president and now treasurer of the
organization. Possession of an ounce or less of marijuana is now a
misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine not
exceeding $1,000.

The NORML-backed measure also is a proposed initiated act. It has been
endorsed by the Arkansas Libertarian Party, Schwarz said. Eleven other
states -- Alaska, Oregon, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio,
Nebraska, Mississippi, North Carolina, New York and Maine -- have
passed similar laws, he said.

Barry Emigh of North Little Rock has proposed a third, a
constitutional amendment, which would allow the use of marijuana for
medical purposes without a doctor's prescription. The amendment also
would make it legal for those using marijuana for medicinal purposes
to cultivate it if it is grown "in a manner not obvious to the public
sight." It also would reduce the penalty for possession of a
quarter-ounce or less to a $75 fine, and between a quarter-ounce and
half-ounce to a $150 fine.

His plan also would provide "that all persons serving jail sentences
at the time of the passage of this amendment for the possession of
half-a-ounce or less of marijuana shall have the part of the jail
sentence that is attributable to the possession of half-an-ounce or
less of marijuana dismissed."

Emigh needs 70,701 signatures of registered Arkansas voters by July 7
to get his proposed amendment on the November ballot.

A significant difference between Emigh's proposed constitutional
amendment and the two proposed initiated acts is that the Legislature
cannot amend a constitutional amendment that the voters adopt. An
initiated act approved by the voters could be amended by lawmakers by
a two-thirds majority of the House and Senate.

Supporters of the three proposals have mixed opinions on whether
presenting three different marijuana-related proposals to voters at
the same time will hurt or help their causes.

"I think there may be some confusion, but if you look at mine, which I
call the simple possession bill, it makes the most sense," said
Schwarz. He said he also is promoting the other proposed initiated
act.

Currently, Schwarz said, the petition for his proposal has about 1,000
signatures. If it doesn't have at least 10,000 by the end of next
month the group will consider dropping the effort.

Campbell believes that having three marijuana-related proposals both
helps and hurts her proposal.

"It certainly makes sure that the topic is out there," she said. "It
also is a little confusing with three out there for the voters. But, I
think that a person who takes a couple of minutes to look at the
provisions of our bill would find it more thorough."

Campbell said her organization has not taken a public stand on the
reduction in penalty for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana.
She did not know how many signatures have been collected on the
petition for her proposal.

Emigh said he has not considered the effect that three proposals would
have on each other before he filed. "I think mine does what both the
others do," he said. Emigh said he has not begun collecting signatures.

In 1999 the Legislature voted down a bill that would have permitted
medical use of marijuana.

"I think there is a lot of paranoia about marijuana," Emigh said. "I
think alcohol is far more worse than marijuana."