PARENTS SAY LEGAL REEFER IS MADNESS

Larry Katz stood in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building yesterday
holding a grainy, black-and-white oversized photo of his stepson, Ian
Eaccarino.

In the photo, Ian looks like a typical college student, smiling broadly and
wearing a baseball cap. He overdosed on heroin at 20 and died in the
family's Connecticut home in 1996.

Mr. Katz and his wife, Ginger, traveled to the high court to demonstrate
against the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Mr. Katz, who holds a master's degree in nutrition, spoke bitterly about
how marijuana, which Ian first tried at 14, started his stepson down a road
to addiction and ultimately to death.

Terming the drug "medicine," Mr. Katz said, would be misleading. "It gives
definitely the wrong message: 'It's medicine. It's good for you,' " he said.

Inside the building, the Supreme Court justices listened to arguments on
whether marijuana can legally be prescribed to patients as a means for
easing their pain.

The case, the United States vs. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, is
rooted in California's 1996 decision to legalize the doctor-sanctioned
possession and cultivation of cannabis for seriously ill patients.

Advocates of medical marijuana say the drug can ease side effects from
chemotherapy, save nauseated AIDS patients from wasting away or even allow
multiple sclerosis sufferers to rise from a wheelchair and walk.

Representatives of Drug-Free Kids: America's Challenge, who organized the
demonstration yesterday, argue that marijuana and other illicit drugs lead
to school violence, dropouts, early sexuality and teen-age pregnancy.

Although there is no definitive science on the drug's medicinal value, nine
states have laws allowing the legal use of marijuana to treat a host of
ailments.

Outside the court building, discussions between advocates and detractors of
medical marijuana became contentious during the course of the morning.

Representatives of the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project were
outnumbered by a dozen people demonstrating against the drug, many of them
parents who held placards with pictures of children lost to drug overdoses.

Karen Shreiner, a program analyst from Harrisburg, Pa., carried a
poster-sized picture of a friend's daughter, Angela Smith, who died from a
heroin overdose at 19.

She said Angela first started using marijuana at 14 and argued that the
drug led to Angela's abuse of stronger drugs, despite several failed trips
to treatment centers. She said Angela had several run-ins with the law
before dying of an overdose in 1998.

"We just want to make people aware that marijuana is a steppingstone drug,"
Mrs. Shreiner said.

Yesterday's case marked the first time the justices have taken on the issue
of legalizing marijuana.

"We believe it is lifesaving," said Gerald Uelmen, an attorney for the
California-based cooperative.

A ruling for the Oakland club would allow special marijuana clubs to resume
distributing the drug in California, which passed one of the nation's first
medical marijuana laws.

A ruling for the federal government would not negate the California voter
initiative but would effectively prevent clubs like Oakland's from
distributing the drug openly.

The court's ruling is expected by the end of June.