MARIJUANA: THERAPY OR RECREATION?

Officials Argue Bill That Would Make Medical Marijuana a Defense

Junction City Police Lt. Mike Life viewed consideration Monday of
medical-marijuana legislation as a wacky ploy to seek legalization of
pot in Kansas.

"Marijuana is not medicine," Life said in testimony to the Senate
Health Care Strategies Committee. "There is a well-financed and
organized pro-drug legalization lobby whose strategic ploy is to
appeal to your compassion for sick people."

Former Kansas Attorney General Robert Stephan, on the other hand,
said he couldn't imagine how federal government officials slept at
night knowing pot could alleviate pain of people battling severe disease.

"I find it almost unbelievable that our federal government continues
to let its citizens suffer," said Stephan, who added that he opposed
general legalization of marijuana.

That is a sample of conflicting opinion offered to members of the
Senate committee on a bill creating a "medical necessity" defense for
a person arrested for possession of marijuana or drug paraphernalia.
Under the bill, a physician licensed to practice in Kansas could
issue written certification that a patient was receiving therapeutic
benefit from smoking marijuana.

Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, and chairwoman of the committee, said
support in the Legislature for the bill was modest at best. Existing
medications are sufficient to avoid problems that might be created by
authorizing use of marijuana, she said.

"I really don't see this as necessary," she said.

The Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition is campaigning for the bill
to provide legal protection for patients who use medical marijuana
and for physicians who recommend the substance as part of a treatment
program. The coalition has 800 members, including patients, doctors,
nurses, caregivers and families.

"They are not aging baby boomers over in Lawrence," said coalition
director Laura Green. "They're not a bunch of stoners from Haysville.
These are citizens who believe seriously and terminally ill people
should be allowed to use marijuana if their physician believes it will help."

She said the proposed bill was similar to a measure passed 89-32 by
the House in 1995, but not considered by the Senate.

Dr. Eric Voth, a Topeka physician who has opposed medical use of
marijuana for 30 years, said no serious medical group supported the
coalition's new bill. His list of opponents included the Kansas
Medical Society, Kansas State Nurses Association, Kansas State Board
of Healing Arts and Kansas State Board of Pharmacy.

He said the bill would weaken the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's
capacity to safeguard consumers from flawed medical practices.

"Allowing such legislation to become law is riding a wave of emotion
and mob psychology that has been carefully crafted, financed and
driven by the marijuana lobby," Voth said. "It is no different than
the disinformation campaign that the tobacco lobby fought for years
to manipulate the public."