PANEL HEARS BILL TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

CONCORD - Proponents of legislation to legalize marijuana for medicinal
purposes are seeking to convince the House Health, Human Service and
Elderly Affairs Committee that marijuana can be safely prescribed for
alleviating pain or controlling painful side effects of other currently
legal drugs such as interferon.

Yesterday the committee heard House Bill 721, which allows doctors to
prescribe marijuana for treatment.

In the recent past, the Legislature has repeatedly defeated attempts to
legalize the drug based on opposition from the New Hampshire Medical
Society and law enforcement officials.

Opponents contend that no solid scientific evidence exists to support
arguments that marijuana is useful for treating anything that can't be
dealt with by using already legal medicines.

The medical society continues to oppose legalization because it believes
that marijuana is a dangerous drug, and that treatment of vomiting
associated with chemotherapy can be controlled by using marinol, a
legalized derivative of marijuana. Proponents argue that terminal cancer
patients should be allowed to use marijuana to control severe pain.

Dr. John Dalco of the medical society told the committee that the use of
marijuana as a pain killer or palliative is outweighed by such possible
harmful side-effects as hypertension, particularly for elderly users,
short-term memory loss, and dry eye that could lead to corneal damage.

Respiratory problems can also be heightened through marijuana use, Dalco
said. Dalco and others also dispute claims that marijuana is useful for
treating glaucoma.

However, one witness who declined to divulge his name because he has
admitted to using the drug to combat pain associated with hepatitis C,
spoke in favor or the bill. He said he found marijuana to be very helpful
to him in controlling the painful effects of interferon, a virus-fighter
used to control hepatitis.

Peter H. Giese, representing the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of
Police, said the bill is another attempt to legalize marijuana in general
and could lead to severe enforcement problems in the illicit production and
sale of the drug.