MALADY OR MEDICINE?

EDITOR'S NOTE-Due to the illicit nature of marijuana and the resulting fear
of criminal prosecution, names in these stories have been changed to protect
the sources.

READER-Despite criticism from local law enforcement officials and the
Arkansas Department of Health, activists want Arkansas voters to determine
if medical marijuana should be available to the terminally ill and chronic
pain sufferers.

When the baseball-size tumor swelled under his left arm literally overnight,
Rex knew something was terribly wrong. A 30-year old Fayetteville resident,
Rex was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease, a cancer akin to breast cancer
which attacks the lymphatic system. Doctors quickly put Rex on a strict
regimen of chemotherapy, causing his hair to fall out as well as unbearable
nausea from the powerful chemicals. To alleviate the dire symptoms of
chemotherapy, Rex chose to smoke marijuana - an illegal drug. Although
pharmaceutical drugs were somewhat effective marijuana helped augment them,
improving their success at combating what had become severe nausea. "It just
seemed to help," Rex explained. Doctors were surprised that Rex lost little
weight during six months of chemotherapy, as the marijuana actually
stimulated his appetite, helping maintain his stature. He also attributes
marijuana to helping him sleep and generally avoid stress, which can be a
cancer patient's number No. 1 enemy.

To help possibly hundreds of terminally ill or chronic pain sufferers in
Arkansas, like Rex, efforts are underway which would allow voters in
November to determine if marijuana should be legal for medicinal use.

Opponents of the efforts, including local law enforcement officials and the
Arkansas Department of Health, claim marijuana has no scientifically proven
medical benefits, and allowing patients to use it would undermine the
nation's 20-year war on drugs.

Ballot Initiatives

In December, Attorney General Mark Pryor approved three ballot initiative
titles all dealing in some way with reforming the state's marijuana laws.
Currently, under state law, first-time possession of less than 1 ounce of
marijuana is a misdemeanor, and is punishable by up to one year in jail and
a $1,000 fine. Second offense for possession, regardless of quantity, is a
Class D felony which can land a person in prison for up to six years with a
$10,000 fine, and third offense becomes a Class C felony, carrying a penalty
of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

One initiative seeks to merely decrease the criminal penalty for possessing
the illegal herbal substance, while the other two include provisions for
legalizing marijuana for medicinal use. Similar initiatives have been
approved by voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Nevada, Oregon,
Washington and the District of Columbia.

Denele Campbell, president of the Fayetteville based Alliance for Reform of
Drug Policy in Arkansas, said the initiative began in part because the
group, "realized it is ridiculous people cannot use marijuana for medicine
if they want." "The more we looked," she explained, "the more outraged we
were that the political football marijuana had become, prevents people from
getting medication they deserve.

We thought, 'Where do we begin dismantling the ridiculous runaway freight
train called the drug war.'" They chose to reform laws governing marijuana,
seeking to make it available to the terminally ill and those in chronic
pain, she said. A life long resident of Northwest Arkansas and self-styled
back-to-the-lander, Campbell is no stranger to activism.

She formerly served as president of the now-defunct Association to Fight the
Incinerator in Fayetteville. With an acronym sounding like an African
anteater, ARDPArk is composed of a diverse group of residents, local
physicians and even a Fayetteville city alderman all of whom believe the
state's current laws on marijuana unfairly restrict a patient's access to
any medicine which could be beneficial. In short, Campbell said, the
initiative is patterned after the successful Oregon medical marijuana law
passed in 1998. The Oregon law establishes a state registry of certified
marijuana users, and allows patients or their primary caregivers to grow a
certain amount of marijuana for their own use. Furthermore, and most
significantly Campbell added, the Oregon law exempts registry participants
from prosecution under the state's drug laws. For Rex, he would be able to
legally grow his own medication to fight the effects of chemotherapy.

While Arkansas has rarely been known to set national trends, she said, the
effort is needed because politicians are not adequately addressing the
medical need for marijuana. "This is truly an instance where the people are
ahead of the politicians," Campbell explained. Although the group must
obtain nearly 60,000 signatures before July to place the initiative on the
November ballot, she said, they anticipated the challenge and decided to act
now in part to inspire debate on the subject, regardless of the initiative's
success.

Barry Emigh, author of another state initiative to allow medical marijuana
use and District 62 candidate for the Arkansas House of Representatives,
said besides reducing the penalty for simple possession of marijuana, his
plan would permit patients diagnosed with a terminal or chronic illness to
cultivate and possess marijuana without fear of prosecution. "Anyone faced
with chronic illness or impending death," Emigh explained, "shouldn't need
to go to the black market [to obtain marijuana] or pay for expensive
prescriptions." Neither ARDPArk nor Emigh have collected many signatures,
and both agree they face an uphill battle against the stigma marijuana has
carried since its prohibition in 1937.

Medical Debate

Whenever the subject of medical marijuana is mentioned, both supporters and
opponents of its legalization immediately point to volumes of scientific
evidence they say support their claims, while debunking the other's.
Campbell believes marijuana has clearly been demonstrated to work where
conventional pharmaceuticals have failed, including combating severe nausea,
producing a euphoric state effective against pain as well as stimulating the
appetite in those with difficulty maintaining weight during chronic or
terminal illness.

On the other side, Richard L. Watson, city of Fayetteville chief of police
and chair of the Fouth Judicial Drug Task Force said he did not know of any
legitimate scientific data which exists to support the need for medical
marijuana.

Judging by a press release issued Feb. 3, the ADH would seem to agree.
"Scientific research has shown marijuana to be harmful to a person's brain,
heart, lungs, immune system, memory, perception, judgment and motivation.
Use of marijuana as a beneficial medicine projects a false and fraudulent
message contradicting current scientific knowledge and research," according
to the release. Furthermore, according to the release, "arguments for
marijuana's use as a medical therapy are largely based on emotional appeals
and anecdotal accounts of physical or psychological efficiency."

Calling the ADH release, "absolutely incorrect and misinformed," retired
Springdale area physician Dana Copp, a general practitioner for 30 years and
ARDPArk supporter, said he has no idea why the Health Department would issue
such a statement. "We need to inform the public about the medical reality,"
he said, "not the myth hysteria." Yet even after a national study released
by the Institute of Medicine in 1999 indicated there were medicinal benefits
to marijuana, federal and state officials continue to claim no scientific
data support its use.

Yet supporters of the initiative efforts claim the successes of other states
which have adopted similar medical marijuana provisions should be used to
highlight the potential good the herb can do for Arkansans.

The Oregon Experience

Patterning their effort after the Oregon initiative, ARDPArk members claim
any debate on the benefits of marijuana should entail scrutiny of the Oregon
experience. In November 1998, when Oregon voters overwhelmingly approved
measure 67, their state's initiative on medical marijuana, law enforcement
officials predicted the worst.

Dr. Rick Bayer, retired Portland physician and one of two chief petitioners
for the Oregon medical marijuana initiative, said the campaign became a
battle pitting law enforcement against doctors and their patients. In fact,
he said, rhetorical arguments against the proposal included Dan Noelle,
sheriff from Multnomah County where Portland lies, claiming doctors would
prescribe marijuana to infants for teething pain, among other charges. Yet
now, nearly a year after implementing the program, even Noelle has admitted
fears were unfounded. "The impact of the law has been less onerous than we
expected," he said. Though, he added, there are still serious doubts among
the law enforcement community about the long range impact of Oregon's
medical marijuana law.

For example, Noelle said, there is currently an effort underway by medical
marijuana proponents to permit those with diagnosed mental illnesses to
receive protection under the law, which could cause confusion for law
enforcement. Statewide, he said, there have been few serious abuses of the
medical marijuana law. Yet Noelle commended the Oregon health officials for
their letter-of-the-law approach since its passage. Registry cards have been
issued to 667 patients or their primary caregivers since the program began
registering marijuana users in May 1999, according to Kelly Paige, manager
of the Oregon Health Division's Medical Marijuana Program. No registered
patients have been arrested for marijuana possession or use and no
registration cards have been falsified, she said, which does not approach
abuses law enforcement officials predicted before the vote in 1998. In fact,
Paige added, the program's success has been better than either supporters or
detractors predicted. Hundreds of requests to join the registry are received
each week.

According to the Oregon law, she said, doctors must first sign a form
acknowledging the patient's condition and that they could benefit from
medical marijuana. All information provided by prospective registrants is
verified, Paige said. To date, she added, only one patient has been caught
falsifying records in order to join the program. After receiving a registry
card, Paige said, patients or their primary caregivers are protected from
the state's drug laws pertaining to marijuana. Cardholders can legally grow
three mature and four immature marijuana plants at a time, she explained. In
addition, Paige added, card holders can legally possess up to 1 ounce of
processed marijuana in their homes, and 1 ounce if away from home. No
funding was offered for administering the program, she said, and as a result
patients are required to pay a $150 annual fee which pays for the registry
effort. Patients, Paige added, are still forced to rely on the black market
to obtain marijuana seeds. As a result, she said, many patients have formed
growing support networks, teaching each other to grow the medicinal herb.
The law also allows cardholders to share their marijuana supply amongst
themselves, which includes seeds.

As for marijuana's benefit to patients, while neither a doctor or nurse,
Paige said it certainly seems to help those who use the plant. "It's much
more benign than many other prescription drugs available, especially
morphine," she concluded.

Meet Cardholder 211, Ken Brown.

A quadriplegic who enrolled in the Oregon medical marijuana program in Sept.
1999, Brown said the three marijuana brownies he consumes each day provide
comfort, soothe the pain and improve his mood. Although he has used morphine
since he was struck by a drunk driver in 1991, Brown said he now barely
feels relief from the addictive pharmaceutical as its effects have dulled
after so many years of use. Describing himself as a human bust - as his only
sensation lies above the shoulders - Brown credits marijuana for saving his
life. Oregon is a right-to-die state, and in 1998 when the Oregon initiative
passed, Brown was in the process of filling out paperwork to legally commit
suicide. "I'd had it," he explained, "Eight years of this was too much." Yet
now, Brown said, bouts with depression are fewer and farther between, and he
dedicates his life to informing people about the benefits of medical
marijuana, including operating a website on the issue. "I wanna' live now,"
Brown exclaimed. To Brown, the main beneficiaries of legal medical marijuana
are not patients, but able-bodied people, who will have a safety net in case
they ever need marijuana for medicine.

The Debate Continues

Regardless of the official position on medical marijuana in the state,
Campbell and ARDPArk said they will continue their struggle to convince the
public medical marijuana should be legal. As for the Health Department, Dr.
Fay Boozman, director of the health agency, said the statement issued by the
department should not be construed as a blanket condemnation of marijuana's
potential as medicine. In fact, he said, while the IOM study should not be
considered as an open door to legalizing marijuana for medicine, results
indicate there may well be patients who could benefit from medical marijuana
use. Boozman added that ADH remains open to the "evolving evaluation
process" surrounding medical marijuana, but additional controlled studies
are needed before any state drug laws are relaxed.

For now, Rex's cancer is in remission, and doctors are currently conducting
additional tests to determine if it will remain a distant memory. Although
chemotherapy routines have been discontinued, he still smokes marijuana. The
bottom line is state drug laws need to be changed, Rex said, so patients
like himself who wish to use unconventional treatments can avoid fear of
imprisonment.

If the initiatives receive enough signatures to be placed on the ballot,
Arkansas voters will decide November if marijuana should be legalized for
medicine.

Until then, Rex remains an outlaw.