SENATE LOOKS TO EXPAND RX MARIJUANA BILL

MONTPELIER - After 1996, when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
after two years of symptoms, Mark Tucci of Manchester began taking a
bunch of heavy duty medications.

But those medications came with their own problems and side
effects.

Then he began smoking marijuana. Tucci says his use of the drug has
helped him to cut in half the number of prescription medicines he
takes, and his illness is not progressing as rapidly as was expected.
He has written a book for patients growing marijuana.

"Not only does smoking slow down the degenerative progress of my
disease, you can see that, but I don't have to take the 17 narcotics I
did have to take," Tucci, 50, said by telephone Friday.

He spoke the same day the state Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-1
to advance a bill expanding the state's medical marijuana statute,
which became law in 2004.

The concerns of law enforcement officials helped persuade members of
the committee to stop short of giving advocates for medical marijuana
everything they wanted, said Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, the
committee chairman. Police and prosecution officials testified earlier
this month that there was a chance changing the law could contribute
to an increase in drug crimes, or that patients might be targeted for
theft.

"We listened to law enforcement and their concerns," Sears
said.

The bill, which now moves to the Health and Welfare Committee in the
Senate, would expand Vermont's marijuana program significantly.

If it becomes law, sufferers of chronic illnesses that are progressive
and debilitating - but not life-threatening - will be able to legally
possess and grow limited amounts of the drug. In the past, access was
restricted to deadly diseases like cancer, AIDs and multiple sclerosis.

Patients would be able to have four mature marijuana plants and 10
immature plants, as long as they registered the plants with state
police and had the approval of their doctors.

However, patients still would be restricted to possessing two ounces
of marijuana. And strict rules about how the drugs are grown, and
requirements about registration by patients, would remain in place,
lawmakers said.

"The testimony we received was that it was working well for the people
already on the registry," Sears said.

So far, Vermont's law has not run afoul of federal authorities.
Vermont's law protects patients from prosecution by state and local
authorities, but not under federal drug laws.

However, Vermont's medical marijuana law is significantly more
restrictive than those in other states, like California, where federal
authorities have stepped in to enforce U.S. laws, Sears said.

"We still believe that is unlikely to happen in Vermont," Sears
said.

He said it's important for Vermont to expand the list of ill patients
who are eligible for medical use of the drug, and to increase the
number of plants patients can grow for their own use. Otherwise,
patients -- whose diseases may have weakened them financially as well
as physically -- may be purchasing them much more expensively on the
black market.

"Some of these people are just struggling to get by," Sears
said.

Sen. Alice Nitka, D-Windsor, voted against the bill in the Judiciary
Committee.

"I certainly have sympathy for the people who are not included in the
current law," she said. But "it's not something I was comfortable with."

In part, there was too much conflicting testimony about how much of
the drug could be collected from plants grown indoors, as Vermont's
law requires, Nitka said.

"There was a very wide range, too wide for me," Nitka
said.

Adam Necrason, a lobbyist and lawyer for the Marijuana Policy Project,
said that while advocates did not get everything they wanted, the bill
is a step in the right direction

"This bill marks a major step forward in Vermont's medical marijuana
program," he said. "While not perfect, S.7 will extend protection to
many patients who suffer terribly but have no protection under our
current law. The Legislature and governor should pass this measure
without delay."

Sears said he expects the bill to receive broad support in the Senate.
He is hopeful it can help people like the elderly man he spoke to
recently who suffers terribly from shingles.

As for Tucci, he wishes the committee had gone further toward adopting
his and other advocates' recommendations for allowing patients to grow
more plants and possess more marijuana. He vividly remembers the
difference using marijuana medicinally made in his life -- especially
when he was able to get rid of some of the side effects of his other
prescriptions.

"My God, I didn't feel like I was going to throw up anymore," he said.
"My disease is progressing, there is no doubt about it," Tucci said.
But "I can get rid of most of my pain and most of my spasms ... It's
about quality of life."