MEDICINAL MARIJUANA BILL LIKELY GOING NOWHERE

Each year, Rep. Frank Boyle, D-Superior, acts as a sort of Don
Quixote tilting at windmills, faithfully advocating for the medical
use of marijuana.

There isn't much enthusiasm in the Legislature for the bill, to be
sponsored by Boyle and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison. After all, few
legislators want to be running against an opponent who can twist a
vote for allowing the medicinal use of marijuana into a campaign ad
showing he or she is "soft" on drug use.

But for some patients undergoing chemotherapy or critically ill AIDS
patients, smoking marijuana seems to have therapeutic benefits,
reducing nausea and stimulating appetite.

Boyle's proposal -- which was argued against by the State Medical
Society of Wisconsin, but found favor with the Wisconsin Nurse's
Association at a recent Assembly State Affairs Committee hearing --
would only allow physicians to prescribe marijuana, and wouldn't
change any laws against recreational use.

The states of Alaska, Hawaii, California, Colorado, Maine, Oregon,
Washington and Nevada all allow for the medical use of marijuana, and
Canada is now approving the use of marijuana for 20 specific diseases
if prescribed by a physician.

Presently the anecdotal evidence of medicinal marijuana's
effectiveness is what lawmakers have to consider, but for such a
politically charged issue, it's not likely to be enough.

That's too bad. For meanwhile, those who find relief with the drug
are not only struggling with life-threatening diseases, but with the
knowledge they're also turning themselves into criminals.