PATIENTS ARGUE FOR EXPANSION OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

MONTPELIER -- Steve Perry of Randolph Center described the squeezing
pain he feels in his legs, electric shock-like sensations when he
turns his neck the wrong way, and crippling muscle spasms.

He takes narcotic pain-killers, he told members of the Senate
Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but explained he gets the best relief
when he also smokes marijuana -- an illegal drug.

"If I had multiple sclerosis, I could qualify under the law and use
marijuana to treat my severe muscle spasms and pain," Perry said. He
was referring to a 2004 law that exempts Vermonters with certain
debilitating conditions from state penalties if they register with the
Department of Public Safety and follow rules for growing and using
marijuana for medical treatment. Possession and use of marijuana
remains a federal crime.

Perry's diagnosis is degenerative joint disease, which wasn't included
as an eligible condition under Vermont's law. "Because the law doesn't
allow me to legally use or obtain marijuana, I have to put myself at
risk of being arrested and going to jail every time I need to ease the
pain."

Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Sears, D-Bennington, has introduced
a bill that would expand the list of diseases and conditions that
would qualify someone for the state's legal protection for therapeutic
use of marijuana, allow registered participants to grow more plants,
and decrease by half the current $100 registration fee.

Perry urged lawmakers, as they consider these changes, to remember
people like him who don't have life-threatening diseases, but still
struggle with chronic, debilitating pain. "We don't deserve to be
treated like criminals."

Vermont's 2-year-old Medical Marijuana Registry program has worked
smoothly, reported Max Schlueter, director of the Vermont Crime
Information Center. Twenty-nine people are registered, down from a
high of 34. Sixteen have multiple sclerosis.

Despite smooth operations, Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper
urged the committee to be cautious about expanding eligibility or
allowing more plants. Noting a recent increase in substance abuse
problems across the state, Sleeper said he didn't want lawmakers to do
anything that would exacerbate this criminal activity.

Jane Woodruff, executive director of the Department of State's
Attorneys and Sheriffs, warned that increasing the number of plants
could make participants' homes targets for criminals. "I would ask you
to take that very seriously."

The most emotional opponent of the proposed expansion was not
scheduled to address the committee until next week, but he sat
anxiously through the first two days of testimony.

Steve Steiner of Tioga Center, N.Y., said he lost his son to a drug
overdose six years ago. Although prescription drugs killed his boy,
Steiner said, "marijuana played a role. It opened the door."

To channel his grief, Steiner founded Americans for Drug Free Youth
and Dads and Mad Mothers Against Drugs. He travels the country trying
to block enactment of laws that provide legal protections to any kind
of marijuana use.

Steiner charges that the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group
that has promoted medical marijuana bills in states including Vermont,
wants to legalize marijuana.

"I've seen how they parade sick and dying patients before
legislatures," Steiner said. He said of his own group, "We aren't
trying to hurt these sick and dying patients, but we want good
medicine. What is being sold to Vermonters is snake oil."

Mark Tucci of Manchester has visited the Statehouse many times to
lobby for protections for people like himself. He has multiple
sclerosis and smokes several times a day to ease muscle spasms and
pain. "I know it works," he told lawmakers Thursday.

Tucci, a registered medical marijuana user, argued that the current
plant limits result in an inadequate supply of marijuana. "I smoke
roughly 2 ounces a month. At present, I can grow two ounces in a
three-to-four month period, which means two-thirds of my meds have to
be bought on the black market."

"I'm getting sick of going out to try to find the stuff," added Tucci,
who walks unsteadily with a crutch. Having friends buy his supply puts
them at risk.

Regardless of who buys the marijuana, he noted, it costs $400 or more
per ounce, which comes out of his monthly $850 disability check. "The
way to end all this is to let me grow enough."