MARIJUANA SPARRING BEFORE HEARING

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A day before the Supreme Court was to hear arguments on
the issue, Republican lawmakers sparred on Tuesday with the leader of a
group advocating the medical use of marijuana.

"What's really going on here is people are trying to legalize smoking
marijuana and they're using cancer and AIDS patients as a prop," said Rep.
Dave Weldon, R-Fla., at a hearing of the House Government Reform
Committee's criminal justice subcommittee.

Rob Kampia, the executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said
his organization "believes that sick people as well as healthy people
should not be put in jail for using marijuana.

"But if we can keep sick people out of jail in the short run, then by God
we're going to do it," he said.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday on whether marijuana can be
provided to patients out of "medical necessity" even though federal law
makes its distribution a crime.

At least eight states have medical-marijuana laws in place or approved by
voters: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and
Colorado.

Subcommittee Republicans were candid about their dislike of medical
marijuana advocates, represented at the hearing by Kampia.

"This is really an effort by the druggies to legalize marijuana," said Rep.
Bob Barr, R-Ga.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who was the only Democrat in the room for most
of the hearing, urged lawmakers to be civil and said he respected all the
witnesses for agreeing to show up and present their views.

"I don't respect Mr. Kampia," Barr said. "You're not a wonderful person.
You're doing something despicable, and you're putting a nice face on it."

Kampia retorted: "I'll be cordial with Congressman Barr, but I don't
respect him either because he's supportive of a policy that criminalizes
seriously ill people who have their doctors' approval to use what is a
legitimate medicine."

Subcommittee chairman Mark Souder, R-Ind., urged civility from all
participants but added to Kampia: "You are an articulate advocate for an
evil position."

The conflict between the state and federal laws is causing problems between
law enforcement officials, said Laura Nagel, the deputy assistant
administrator of the Office of Diversion Control at the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

"For example, local officers assigned to a federally funded task force
might find themselves in the situation of having to seize marijuana in
order to enforce federal law, knowing that the local prosecutor will refuse
to prosecute or the local judge will order the marijuana returned to the
grower," she said.

"In essence, allowing traffickers to carry on with impunity in this manner
simply undercuts enforcement of the Controlled Substance Act," Nagel added.