SOUDER DECRIES 'EVIL POSITION' OF MEDICAL-MARIJUANA ADVOCATES

Suggestions that marijuana laws should be eased so people can use it to
treat severe pain "sends an even more confusing and contradictory message
to our kids," Rep. Mark Souder, R-4th, said Tuesday. Another congressman
called it "lunacy."

But during a House subcommittee hearing on the medical use of marijuana, a
witness who endorses the idea said, "Sick people, as well as healthy
people, should not be arrested and put in jail for smoking marijuana."

Souder told the witness, Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana
Policy Project, that he is "an articulate advocate for an evil position."

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today about whether federal laws can
prevent marijuana from being given to seriously ill people to cope with pain.

The case involves a marijuana-buying cooperative that was set up in
Oakland, Calif., after California voters approved a law in 1996 that allows
the possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes on a doctor's
recommendation.

The federal government sued the cooperative and five other California clubs
in 1998 to prevent them from distributing the drug. A federal judge ruled
in favor of the government, but a federal appeals court ruled last year
that "medical necessity" is a legal defense.The Supreme Court will consider
whether medical necessity may be used as a defense against federal drug bans.

If the justices agree, it would be easier to distribute medical marijuana
in California and the eight other states with similar laws: Alaska, Arzona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

The Justice Department argues that allowing clubs to hand out marjuana
hampers enforcement of federal drug laws. Advocates say marijuana is a
reliable and non-toxic therapy that in some cases is the only relief for
suffering people.

Souder introduced legislation last year to pre-empt state laws that allow
medical use of marijuana. There were no hearings or votes on the legislation.

At the time, Souder said if the people using marijuana were truly only
alleviating pain, police state or federal would look the other way and that
there's already an exemption for medicinal use if a person proves to the
Department of Health and Human Services that it's necessary. At Tuesday's
hearing, Souder said the idea of states passing their own laws about drug
use makes no sense when the federal government already has done so.

"It leads to anarchy," he said.

Kampia said the state laws that allow medicinal use of marijuana only apply
to enforcement by state and local police, not federal officers.

"If the committee is afraid of state laws, I encourage you to encourage the
(Drug Enforcement Agency) to arrest large numbers of cancer and AIDS
patients," he said.

Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., a physician before he entered Congress, said he
treated the majority of cancer and AIDS patients in his home county.

"I have never seen a case where there was a medical indication for
marijuana. . . . It's lunacy."