MARIJUANA ON PANEL AGENDA

Senate Health Committee To Discuss Medical Conditions As Defense

A Senate health committee will hear testimony today on a bill that
would allow certain medical conditions as a defense against
prosecution for marijuana possession.

Under the Kansas Medical Marijuana Act, people with a debilitating
disease could present to the judge a "written certification" from
their doctor attesting to the relief marijuana provides.

"(This bill) doesn't legalize marijuana, it doesn't decriminalize
it," said Laura Green, director of Kansas Compassionate Care
Coalition. "It just allows a person who has a serious debilitating
medical condition who gets arrested for marijuana to bring it up to a court."

Jon Hauxwell, a physician from Hays, will testify in favor of the
bill. He used to work on a reservation in Montana where he dealt
with substance abuse issues. He said he understands the opposition
to this bill, but he added that the medical community has never
allowed those who abuse a drug to deter doctors from prescribing it
to patients in need. He listed morphine and Ritalin as other legally
prescribed drugs to which patients can get addicted.

"We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater," Hauxwell said.

Former Attorney General Robert Stephan, a cancer survivor himself,
also will testify in favor of the bill. In August, he came out in
favor of legalizing the drug for medical use.

He said at the time he believes "the state should not pre-empt the
role of the physician when it comes to deciding what is best for ill Kansans."

The legislation defines a debilitating condition as "cancer,
glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired
immune deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic" or any other
condition that causes a host of debilitating symptoms.

Current law doesn't allow judges or juries to consider a medical
condition when prescribing punishment for possession of the drug.

"You can't even mention it," Hauxwell said.

The bill faces an uphill battle in a state wary of legislation that
even smells like marijuana legalization. Senate Health Care
Strategies Committee member Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka, opposed
the introduction of the bill. She said there was no way
of standardizing dosages of marijuana.

And committee chairwoman Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, who is in
remission from stage four non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and whose son
survived leukemia, said in a recent article about medical marijuana
that there are other drugs on the market that work.