MASS. LAW FOR MEDICINAL USE STILL IN LIMBO

Ten years ago, Massachusetts became one of the first states to endorse
marijuana as medicine.

Thwarted by federal law, that wispy effort wafts in limbo.

In 1991, the Legislature passed, and Gov. William F. Weld signed, an act
creating a therapeutic research program inside the Department of Public
Health to evaluate the effectiveness of medicinal pot.

Patients seeking the drug for legitimate health reasons should in theory
have been able to apply to the program and, if qualified, receive a
controlled amount of pot.

The catch was that under federal law, the DPH may obtain marijuana solely
from a U.S. government agency, the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That
bureau has refused to make medicinal pot available to any state since 1986,
except for eight people nationally, none of them from New England.

Between 1991 and 1996, Massachusetts applied to NIDA both for marijuana for
its research effort and for permission to cultivate the herbal remedy at
the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. But because both requests were
denied, the Bay State's pilot pot program was never activated.

In 1996, another medicinal marijuana bill was passed by the Legislature
seeking to codify a ``medical necessity defense'' for Bay State residents
using marijuana.

Such defenses are lawful in nine states, including Maine. In theory, they
immunize medicinal pot users from prosecution at the state level, though
such people remain subject to federal prosecution.

The 1996 Massachusetts bill, however, limits the necessity defense to
patients registered by the DPH as ``medical marijuana users'' under the
1991 law. With that 1991 state program dormant, the 1996 law has no
practical effect.

This year, about a dozen state legislators have gotten behind four
medicinal marijuana bills.

Two bills would extend the medical necessity defense to persons who possess
or grow marijuana even if they are not registered with the DPH. Two others
would add AIDS, multiple sclerosis and chronic migraines to the roster of
ailments qualifying patients to register with the DPH as medicinal pot
users. No debate on the bills has been scheduled.