MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL DISCUSSED IN LEGISLATURE

PIERRE - Use of marijuana for legitimate medical purposes should be allowed
as a defense in trials involving marijuana charges, legislators were told
Friday.

Making it clear he does not favor legalization of marijuana, Rep. Tom
Hennies, R-Rapid City, pleaded with fellow members of the House Judiciary
Committee to approve HB1120.

The bill says people charged with use or possession of marijuana may offer
the defense of medical necessity in some instances, which would allow
experts to testify that marijuana eases the health problems of the accused.

"We have a duty to try and find relief for these people," said Hennies,
former police chief in Rapid City.

Exposure to neurological toxins as an Army nurse in the Gulf War caused her
serious nerve damage, said Valerie Miller of Hill City. She told
legislators that only marijuana has worked to ease her anxieties, seizures
and hallucinations.

"It has helped me as a medicine," Miller said. "Since I've been using
cannabis, the pain has decreased. I know it's illegal."

Rep. Duane Sutton, R-Aberdeen, said he met many terminally ill cancer
patients last fall when he received radiation therapy after having his
cancerous tonsils removed. Prescription drugs are provided before radiation
to relieve the nausea, but often little can be done, he said.

If marijuana can help people with their nausea in such instances, it should
be allowed, said Sutton, who added that he did not use it to relieve his
nausea.

"I'm for any form of relief that we can give these people ... to ease some
of their suffering and pain," he said.

Testifying against the bill, which was set aside until Wednesday, Assistant
Attorney General Charlie McGuigan said allowing a medicinal marijuana
defense would lead to more trials. And those trials would be costly because
more experts would be called to testify, he said.

McGuigan also said the bill is wide open in terms of the amount of
marijuana a person could have and still claim it's for medical purposes.

"There's nothing in here that limits the quantity," he said.

Even if such a defense is allowed in state courts and people successfully
use it to get acquitted, they still could be prosecuted under federal law
because marijuana possession is also a federal crime, McGuigan added.