PROPONENTS FIND AN UNLIKELY ALLY OF MARIJUANA BILL

ANNAPOLIS -- Proponents of a bill that would allow terminally ill patients
to smoke marijuana to relieve pain and nausea might have found an ally in
an unlikely source: ardent opponent Sen. Walter Baker.

The colorful and irascible chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings
Committee on Wednesday chided his committee members for wasting time by
questioning supporters of a medical marijuana bill.

"Members of the committee, this bill is not going anywhere. I wish you'd
quit asking the questions and let the witnesses put on their show," he said
after committee members questioned the finer points of the bill with witnesses.

"I think the good news here today is his behavior marginalized his own
position because he came off as insensitive to patients and their
families," said Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy
Project.

Mr. Baker's antics angered Delegate Donald Murphy, a conservative
Republican who is sponsoring the same bill in the House of Delegates.

"I think that will have people who were on the fence go with us because of
that," he said.

The bill would allow patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple
sclerosis and other debilitating diseases to grow, own and smoke marijuana
so long as they had their doctor's approval.

A similar measure last year failed to emerge from the House Judiciary
Committee.

The bill hearing drew testimony from 20 supporters, some of whom described
losing their appetite because of the disease or because the treatment was
so harsh.

At one point in the hearing, Mr. Baker quipped, "Medical marijuana. On the
street, they call it pot."

Sen. Perry Sfikas, D-Baltimore County, replied the bill had an uphill
fight, but he said he wanted to learn what the witnesses had to say.

"Ask a question if you want," Mr. Baker said, "but don't make a speech."

Outside the hearing room, Mr. Murphy was fuming.

"It's bad enough that politicians think they know better than doctors, but
I can't believe they think they're God," he said.

Mr. Murphy is a conservative Republican who was a friend of Darrell Putman,
a Woodbine man who ran a horse and carriage service in downtown Frederick.

Mr. Putman, an anti-drug Vietnam veteran, contracted Hodgkin's lymphoma,
which left him weak. His doctor recommended he use marijuana to regain his
appetite, said his wife, Shaleen Putman.

Although it gave him the strength to help out with the family business, he
was afraid of losing his home, business and family if he were arrested with
marijuana, Ms. Putman said.

The drug added four months to his life, she said.

The bill has been named the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act in his honor.

Among the sponsors of the House bill are Delegates David Brinkley and
Louise Snodgrass, both Frederick County Republicans and both cancer survivors.

The hearing drew only a few opponents. Beverly Preston of Linthicum, a
retired pharmacist, noted the bill does not require documentation that
patients have tried other drugs before turning to marijuana.

Doug Stiegler of the Family Protection Lobby said there was no way to
control the marijuana reaching only the people who need the drug.