MEDICAL MARIJUANA HAS NEW FRIENDS IN THE LEGISLATURE

Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on the history and
current use of marijuana as a medicinal remedy. With new legislation
being contemplated by the Texas Legislature allowing the medical use of
marijuana supported by a physician's recommendation as an allowable
defense in criminal cases, there remains some debate as to the merits
and efficacy of marijuana as a remedy.

"We, the five-fingered beings are related to the four leggeds, the
winged beings, the spiritual beings, Father Sky, Mother Earth, and
Nature. We are all relatives. We cannot leave our relatives behind."
Betty Tso: Traditional Navajo

Once she walked among the Navajo, her world illuminated magically with
spirits and power. Her delicate hands, once nimble and strong, clutched
beauty innocent to her breast.

Her body once swayed and danced to love. Her heart once beat in passion.
... Joanne Park Williams can dance no more, she can walk no more. The
53-year-old former music teacher and social worker lies in her bed day
after day, week after week, in a small duplex in South Austin. As the
world's roar filters through the walls, she stares at the ceiling until
her vision loses focus and her mind wanders through memories when the
world extended far beyond her feeble grasp. And while her body is
trapped, her mind is boundless. She is alert. She cracks jokes at the
every opportunity. She listens to Bob Dylan: "When you're standing at
the crossroads that you cannot comprehend Just remember that death is
not the end. . ."

Joanne is in the final stages of Multiple Sclerosis. If she sat up in
her bed she would die within minutes, as her internal muscles cannot
stop the blood in her upper body from rushing to her legs, starving her
heart and brain. For nearly 18 years, she has been ravaged by a
relentless disease that offers no mercy, no escape -- only unbearable
pain and isolation, as her body shudders in uncontrollable spasms.

"She has already been declared dead twice," says her nurse Melanie
Wimberly. "The hospitals and most doctors just gave up. That's why I am
with her to support her to the end."

Joanne remembers her school days in Dallas, and when her class was
interrupted with the news of the Kennedy assassination; she remembers
graduating from Texas Tech with a teaching degree in music Melanie
Wimberly and she remembers her time in southern Utah when she worked
among the Navajo, helping, giving and teaching, living in a tribal
"Hogun," or home.

"I loved teaching kids of all ages," she says. "I loved my career and
especially the time I spent among the Navajo in southern Utah." Once it
was determined that she would be bedridden with MS, just a few weeks
after delivering her second child, her husband left. Her children left.
The world left. It is only recently her children have returned to her
life, bringing her much joy.

Melanie is by her side constantly, helping, laughing, giving care and
attention Joanne so desperately needs. But in the eyes of the law, both
women are criminals. Each day Joanne smokes marijuana, and each day
Joanne and her nurse Melanie are partners in crime.

But for each day Joanne smokes the illicit drug, her life as a
functioning human being is extended. Not because the marijuana can cure
her, but because it is the only remedy she knows that eliminates her
terrible spasms and teeth grinding pain without the devastating side
effects associated with prescription medications.

In the next few days, the Texas Legislature is expected to consider HB
513 sponsored by Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, and co-sponsored by Rick
Green, R-Hays, among others, that will allow the use of physician
supported marijuana use in a criminal defense.

Three weeks ago, the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee debated the issue,
and is expected to soon pass it on to the House floor for a vote. Many
see the bill passing the House, only to enter uncharted waters in the
Senate.

Both Melanie and Joanne testified at the hearings. Under the current
bill, which appeared to have the support of a majority of committee
members, those arrested on marijuana possession charges could argue in
court that they were suffering from a serious ailment and that they had
a physician's support. If the court believed the evidence, the offenders
would be found not guilty.

Keel said he polled almost 10,000 constituents in his conservative
district and found that support for the measure was widespread, and
although some colleagues expressed shock that he had filed the bill,
none of the prosecutors or police officers he had worked with were in
the least bit surprised.

Although it appeared the committee would easily pass a positive
recommendation on to the floor of the House, some legislators cling to
the belief that synthetic drugs containing THC, the main chemical
component of marijuana, is already available under a doctor's
prescription and any new legislation is just an attempt by certain
groups to eventually legalize the use of marijuana.

But Keel, a former prosecutor and Travis County sheriff, is adamant that
his proposal would not legalize marijuana but serve as a "careful,
prudent step," allowing those suffering from disease an alternative
treatment in alleviating pain and other symptoms in seriously ill
persons.

Many in law enforcement already use some discretion in dismissing
medical marijuana cases they might encounter, "but this bill provides
direction for those who do not," Keel said. Committee member Rep. Robert
E. Talton, R-Pasadena, said he thinks the bill is backed by an organized
effort to legalize marijuana. He told the hearing that the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration "does not think there is a valid medicinal
benefit from smoking marijuana."

Addressing the panel was Dr. Dick Evans, director of the Texas Cancer
Center in Houston, who said "sick Texans deserve better treatment," as
there are "numerous benefits from inhaled marijuana for those undergoing
chemotherapy or suffering from AIDS, terminal cancer, muscle spasms,
paralysis, glaucoma and chronic pain.

He said that it is effective medicine for the following:

*- Relief of chemotherapy nausea.

*- Increased appetite in patients with terminal cancer, AIDS or other
wasting diseases.

*- Relief of chronic pain

*- Reduction of muscle spasms in patients with paralysis and multiple
sclerosis

*- Reduction of intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma

"For example, patients with back ache are familiar with muscle drugs
like Soma, Flexeril, even Valium," he said. "The sedation, and other
side effects caused by these prescription drugs are often stronger and
have more side effects of marijuana. Yes, for many patients the
"psychoactive' effects of marijuana is actually less than the
"psychoactive effects' of prescription medicine."

He cited a national survey of oncologists in which 44 percent said they
would recommend marijuana to patients. "Thousands of patients and their
doctors have found marijuana to be effective medicine for treating
patients with cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, paralysis and other illnesses. .
.For many, marijuana is the most effective medicine available, often
more effective than traditional prescription drugs."

He then asked the panel. "Should the state of Texas arrest, prosecute
and imprison patients with cancer and other serious illnesses?. . Under
existing state and federal law, this is not only possible, but it also
occurs on a regular basis."

He stated that because of the nature of marijuana and its role as target
in the drug war, there are no accurate statistics indicating how many
severely ill patients are currently using the drug.

"During the last eight years 400 to 500 patients have been arrested for
marijuana possession," he said. "Criminal penalties have ranged from one
year for one cigarette and five years for growing a single plant."

Joanne and Melanie have already been arrested for possession of
marijuana. "Someone called the authorities a few years ago and although
the charges were eventually dismissed, because of a letter from her
doctor, there was a tremendous problem with the federal government as
they were going to suspend aid because of the marijuana use."

Had the case been pursued, Joanne would have been homeless and without
health coverage and other government support.

Dr. Alan Robison, meanwhile, distinguished professor of pharmacology at
the University of Texas Health Science Center and MD Anderson Cancer
Center in Houston, told the panel that marijuana in pill form is hard
for many patients to ingest, and that the commonly prescribed Marinol is
often toxic and "is erratically absorbed in the bloodstream."

He said that with just a few puffs of a marijuana cigarette, there is an
immediate controlled effect, with little or no side effects. You don't
have to look far in the San Marcos area to find supporters of the
legislation. Dr. Harvey J. Ginsburg, psychology professor at Southwest
Texas State University, has long supported the legalization of marijuana
as a drug to improve the lives of severely ill patients, especially
those suffering from the effects of chemotherapy, spasms or AIDS
treatments .

Ginsburg, who backed the failed 1997 San Marcos proposition to allow for
the medicinal use of marijuana, sees resistance to any such proposal as
short-sighted and often based on emotion.

"The drug was perfectly legal until 1937," he said. "It is as if when
prohibition ended, the government needed something to attack other than
alcohol with all their resources."

Rep. Rick Green, one of the bill's co-sponsors strongly supports the
Keel legislation. "I was originally 100 percent against the bill," he
said. "But after hearing the testimony from witness and experts, I now
support it as an affirmative defense."

He said that "If the medication can help, the patients should be allowed
to use it. We are not sending a message that it is a good thing to use
marijuana or that they should use it. But I know what pain and suffering
is, having watched my grandfather die slowly. . .I wonder if things
might have been easier if doctors would have allowed the use of
marijuana."

He said his main concern is that the new law would be applied to just
about any illness and could be open to misinterpretation. "I am amending
it to make sure it applied to only those with serious pain or terminally
ill patients," he said.

PART II on Tuesday. The War Against Pain.