BILL ENDORSES MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Republicans, Democrat Unite for Passage, but Dissenters Are Waiting

AUSTIN - Sheriff's deputies took Chris Cain to jail in his wheelchair after
word got out in his small East Texas town that the quadriplegic was using
marijuana on advice from a doctor to battle pain and muscle spasms.

While his lawyers try to keep the Kountze computer consultant out of jail,
Mr. Cain is lobbying lawmakers to help others defend themselves against
drug charges if they have a medical condition that would be helped by
marijuana.

"I've used it for 12 years now," Mr. Cain, 36, said during a rally at the
Capitol on Thursday. "It has not damaged my brain, but it has made me a
criminal."

Two Republican House chairmen and a Democrat have filed legislation that
would give patients that protection. It would also clear the way for
physicians to discuss marijuana with patients.

Despite years of resistance by lawmakers to pass such legislation,
proponents say they have hope now for two reasons: a well-organized
grassroots movement and a battery of studies and polls in their corner.

A recent Scripps Howard Texas poll showed 75 percent of Texans in favor of
medical marijuana. The American Medical Association and the New England
Journal of Medicine have endorsed it. Ten states have passed similar laws.
And the year-old Texans for Medical Marijuana claims 7,500 members,
including doctors, preachers and patients.

The bill's author, Austin Democratic Rep. Elliott Naishtat, said the bill
could also find a Senate sponsor for the first time.

"I've never used an illegal drug in my life," said Rep. Suzanna Gratia
Hupp, R-Lampasas, chairwoman of the House Human Services Committee and a
joint author of the bill, "but God forbid any of my loved ones contract
some dreaded disease, and if a doctor tells me that may make a difference
in the final outcome, I'd be on the street in a heartbeat looking for it.
.. And how dare a legislator be willing to stand in the way of that?"

But plenty are likely to try. Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, chairwoman
of the powerful House Calendars Committee, doesn't support it. Neither does
the state GOP or such socially conservative groups as the Texas Eagle Forum.

"There are some people who are going to use that as an entry level drug,
and then go into something much more dangerous as far as addiction and drug
use is concerned," director Cathie Adams said.

A similar bill sponsored by House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chairman
Terry Keel, R-Austin, didn't make it out of his own committee in 2001.

But the issue's political and social stigma is starting to fade, he said.

The Texas Medical Association last year said doctors should be allowed to
discuss all treatment options with their patients, including marijuana. But
the group stopped short of endorsing the legislation.

"With each passing year, there's a better chance for it," said Mr. Keel,
another sponsor of the current bill.