ANNISTON MAN FINDS ONE STATE'S MEDICINE IS ANOTHER'S ILLICIT DRUG

Michael Lapihuska, a former Anniston resident, is facing a jail
sentence and two years probation for bringing his prescription with
him from California to Alabama when he came home for the holidays
last December. The problem -- his prescription was for marijuana.

Lapihuska was arrested Dec. 15, when a police officer stopped him on
McClellan Boulevard near Walmart for hitch hiking. The officer
searched him, found a prescription bottle of marijuana in his pocket
and asked Lapihuska to take it out.

When Lapihuska complied, he was arrested for possession despite the
doctor's recommendation he presented to the officer.

"I understand that I broke the law, but the law was wrong," Lapihuska
said. "If I would have had OxyContin or Xanax, morphine, anything
like that, and walking down the street, the police would have just
gave me my prescriptions back and let me walk."

The difference is the federal designation of the drug, said Leonard
Nelson, a professor at Cumberland School of Law at Samford
University. Marijuana is a Schedule One drug under federal law, which
means it is classified as carrying a high risk of abuse with no
accepted medical benefit. OxyContin, on the other hand, is a Schedule
Two drug, meaning it also has a high risk of abuse but has accepted
medical benefits.

More people may soon find themselves in Lapihuska's situation.
Although medical marijuana remains illegal under federal law, 14
states and Washington D.C., have legalized its use. That includes
California, where Lapihuska's prescription was written. A few states,
including Maine, Michigan, Montana and Rhode Island, also have
reciprocity, allowing medical marijuana users from other states to
continue their medication in the state as long as they have a legal
doctor's order.

"You can't prescribe (marijuana) under federal law," Nelson said.
"I'm not familiar with any precedents that would look at whether a
state has the right to arrest somebody for bringing in what would be
an illegal (drug) in their state but is nonetheless under a
prescription. I would assume the answer would be yeah, they could do it."

Alabama has had legislation introduced to legalize medical marijuana
for the last six years, and the bill made it out of committee for the
first time this past legislative session. The bill -- The Michael
Phillips Compassionate Care Act -- includes reciprocity for medical
marijuana patients.

Loretta Nall, executive director of Alabamians for Compassionate
Care, has been lobbying for the bill because she firmly believes in
the medical benefits of marijuana.

"We have too many people in Alabama prisons already for nonviolent
drug offenses," Nall said. "We don't need to be wasting our scarce
law enforcement dollars and tax dollars to lock up people that are
sick that benefit from the use of this plant."

There have been efforts at the federal level to get marijuana
classified a Schedule Two drug, the latest in Congress. In 2009, Rep.
Barney Frank, D-Mass., introduced HR 2835, a bill that would legalize
medical marijuana under federal law. It's an issue that has been
before Congress before, but never successfully.

One reason is the continuing debate about whether marijuana has
medical benefits. That's amazing to Al Byrne, co-founder of Patients
Out of Time, an organization that teaches medical professionals the
clinical use of marijuana. He's been at it since 1979.

"Our staff, if you will, is MDs, RNs," Byrne said. "We have an
amazing group of experts who have been doing it for a while."

Marijuana has dozens of legitimate, proven medical benefits, Byrne
said. He saw it first hand when his father was suffering through
chemotherapy. His doctor recommended marijuana to ease the
side-effects of the chemo.

"He's sick as hell. They've got him on this chemotherapy which is
terrible now, but it was wicked then. He went from 220 pounds to 90,"
Byrne said. "After a little bit of time and work, he tried it...He
stopped puking. He ate food. I saw it happen."

Still much of the proof of marijuana's medical benefits is either
from other countries or anecdotal. That may be because of its federal
classification. In 2009, the American Medical Association urged the
federal government to change the classification to facilitate study
of the drug.

Meanwhile, Patients Out of Time conferences are full, and give
doctors and nurses acceptable continuing education credits.

"Theses (credits) are issued, if you will, under the authority of the
American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association and
we have had this relationship with the AMA and the ANA since 2000,"
Byrne said. "As far as I'm concerned, when they allowed Patients Out
of Time to issue accreditation to doctors about how to use it
clinically, I think they had their mind made up."

Lapihuska is hoping his experience will help change the marijuana
laws in Alabama to include medical marijuana as a prescribe-able drug.

He has been to prison in Alabama. Before he moved to California in
2009, he was arrested and imprisoned for possession of 5 grams of
marijuana. Then he traveled to the Golden State to visit friends and
while there he received his first legal prescription for marijuana -
a prescription that he says freed him from the five prescribed drugs
he was already taking for major depression, obsessive-compulsive
disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. It was life-changing, he says.

"They had me on five medications at one time, antidepressants,
antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and tried to convince me that this
was the answer," Lapihuska said. "It wasn't the answer."

Lapihuska is out on bond and awaiting trial.