OREGON CONSIDERS EFFECT OF MARIJUANA RULING

Officials Think That The Ruling May Encourage More Doctors To Discuss The
Drug With Patients.

PORTLAND -- Tuesday was a busy morning for Brookings resident and activist
Robert Walker, better known to hundreds of his fellow medical marijuana
patients in the state as Brother Bob.

His phone rang constantly with news of a big, and somewhat unexpected,
court win: U.S. Supreme Court judges had turned away an appeal by the Bush
administration to punish doctors who recommend medical marijuana to their
patients.

Walker rejoiced at the news and hoped that it would reassure more Oregon
doctors, especially those in rural areas, that discussing pot with patients
wouldn't automatically lead to a knock on the door from a federal agent.

"I am going to go out and start recruiting doctors," he said, detailing a
county-by-county crusade he hopes to launch in the next month. "They've
been afraid the federal government will take their license and ruin their
whole livelihood."

Oregon medical and government representatives agreed that the high court's
decision might help persuade some doctors to more readily talk about the
drug with their patients.

But they said that it probably won't bring an onslaught of new pot
prescriptions because, they say, a decent percentage of Oregon doctors
already are willing to discuss the drug with patients.

Oregon doctors have been allowed to recommend the drug for specific
maladies including cancer, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, severe pain or nausea,
seizures or muscle spasms since a voters backed a medical marijuana
initiative in 1998.

An Oregon doctor cannot prescribe marijuana. But to participate in the
state's medical marijuana program, a patient must have a statement from a
physician stating their qualifying medical condition and affirming that pot
might help them feel better.

According to the Department of Human Services, 1,093 doctors have written
such notes, of the 10,028 physicians that are currently registered with the
state board of medical examiners.

That's only 10 percent -- but that's counting pediatricians, dermatologists
and other specialists to whom patients seeking a medical marijuana card
would not turn, said Jim Kronenberg, spokesman for the Oregon Medical
Association.

When they are ruled out, the percentage of doctors who already feel free to
discuss marijuana with their patients likely is much higher, he said, and
to his knowledge, none have run afoul of federal agents.

Kronenberg said it probably is easier to find a doctor who will discuss
medical marijuana west of the Cascades, especially in Portland, Eugene and
the Medford area, and that the Supreme Court's decision might have more
impact in rural Oregon.

Kevin Neely, a spokesman for Attorney General Hardy Myers, called the
ruling, "a setback for all efforts to undermine the program in the courts."

But he said the ruling does not affect ongoing law enforcement battles over
marijuana cultivation. Twice in the past year, Drug Enforcement
Administration officials have seized marijuana cultivated in Oregon for
medicinal uses, saying they are enforcing federal law.