JUDICIAL CANDIDATE DOWNPLAYS STANCE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

LITTLE ROCK - A Pulaski County attorney who is running for circuit
judge says her support for legalizing marijuana for medical use has
no bearing on her qualifications to serve as a judge.

"I don't see it as an issue in the campaign either way," said Cathi
Compton, one of three circuit judge candidates in the Sixth Judicial
District's Division 11, which includes all of Perry County and about
three-quarters of Pulaski County. The court hears juvenile cases.

Her opponents in the Tuesday nonpartisan judicial election are not
commenting, but the state chairman of a national conservative group
that opposes legalizing marijuana for medical use said Compton's
stand may not be appropriate for a judge.

Compton testified before a legislative committee in November 2005 in
support of creating a state registration program that would allow
physician-approved patients to obtain marijuana legally. The
Speakers Bureau of the Drug Policy Education Group of Arkansas also
lists Compton on its Web site as a speaker available to give talks
on medical use of marijuana, although Compton said she no longer
gives talks for the group because she does not have time.

Several states have passed laws permitting marijuana use for
medicinal purposes, although the federal government does not
recognize a legitimate medical use for the drug.

Marijuana remains illegal for all uses under Arkansas law.

Randy Minton of Ward, chairman of the Arkansas chapter of the Eagle
Forum, said he has concerns about how Compton might rule in cases
involving marijuana if elected.

"Since she has taken that stand, you would have to question how she
would handle those type cases," said Minton, a former Republican
state representative currently campaigning to return to the state
House District 48 seat in northwest Lonoke County.

Compton said her personal views would not prevent her from upholding
the law as written.

"If I'm elected to this job, I follow the law," Compton said last
week in an interview with the Arkansas News Bureau. "I take an oath,
I follow the law. Just like I do as a lawyer - I take an oath, I
follow the law. I don't have to like the law to follow it."

Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum opposes marijuana as a medical option.

"We feel like it's just a slippery slope, that once you do that,
then there will be other issues that will be brought up that it
would be all right to use ... marijuana," Minton said. "We just
don't believe that that's the correct direction for our country to go in."

Compton said her support for legalization is limited only to medical cases.

"I believe that if a doctor prescribes marijuana for a patient for
pain control, and it's properly controlled by the doctor and by the
law, then it's much more helpful than harmful," she said.

She recalled that as a criminal defense lawyer in the 1990s, she
once defended an elderly Calhoun County couple charged in connection
with marijuana plants they had grown to make a tea for their
daughter, who had stomach cancer.

Compton negotiated a plea agreement with the prosecutor, but the
judge was reluctant to accept the agreement because of the amount of
marijuana involved.

"As it turned out in that case, the prosecuting attorney stood up in
the courtroom and gave a very eloquent speech in favor of my clients
and explained to the judge why the plea agreement was a good one by
explaining to him that their daughter was very ill and this was the
only way that she could maintain any food, was by this tea that they
made. So he ultimately did accept the plea," Compton said.

Compton said she has not campaigned for circuit judge on the issue
of legalizing medical marijuana. Asked if she would speak out on the
issue as a sitting judge, she said, "That's a legal issue, and I'm
not running for the Legislature. It would probably be
more judicious of me not to express my opinions about what the
Legislature chooses to do."

Also running for the Division 11 circuit judge position are Melinda
Gilbert of Little Rock and Jewel "Cricket" Harper of Sherwood. The
position is now held by Rita Gruber, who is challenging incumbent
Wendell Griffen for his seat on the state Court of Appeals.

Gilbert said Friday it would be improper for her to comment on the
issue of medical marijuana use or on Compton's position.

"Because the nature of the cases that we will hear will involve
drugs, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to comment on
another candidate's position or stance that they may have taken on
drugs or legalization of them, because that may very well be an
issue that I may have to decide when I am elected," Gilbert said. "I
am going to uphold the law based upon the facts of each individual
case when I am elected."

Harper said Tuesday that Compton has a right to state her position
on the issue, though Harper declined to take a position herself.

"I haven't really thought through how I would feel about that. I
don't know that it's an issue that would come up in juvenile court,"
Harper said.