MEDICAL POT BILL STAYING ALIVE

HARTFORD -- For the past two years a bill to fully legalize the medical use
of marijuana has been snuffed out in the early days of the legislative session.

But this year the proposal finds itself sitting on the House of
Representatives calendar, waiting for a possible floor vote.

"I'm more shocked than anybody to get it through the committee process,"
joked Rep. James Abrams, D-Meriden, the main proponent of the legislation.

Abrams acknowledges he isn't sure whether the bill will be called up for a
vote in the House. But he said there appears to be a fair amount of
bipartisan support for the bill.

"If we get a vote, it will be close. It's not going to pass by a wide
margin," Abrams said. "It's something that takes some education."

A Better Way Foundation, a New Haven-based nonprofit group that supports a
shift in Connecticut's drug policy from a public safety issue to a public
health issue, has taken on that role.

The group, which hired a lobbying firm and started an e-mail campaign, has
scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to unveil a list of more than 200
medical doctors across the state who've sent postcards saying they back
medical marijuana.

Robert Rooks, the foundation's executive director, said the group wants to
show lawmakers there is support for the bill within the medical community
as well as the public.

"So many people say they support it, but because of the powers that be and
who they work for, they can't come out and support it," Rooks said. "It's
frustrating."

In 1981 Connecticut was one of the first states in the nation to pass a
medical marijuana law. Under that law, a doctor is allowed to prescribe the
illegal drug to relieve nausea associated with chemotherapy and eye
pressure from glaucoma.

But the law is unworkable because, under federal law, any physician who
prescribes marijuana can be sent to prison and risks having their medical
license revoked, Abrams said. That's why a single prescription for
marijuana has not been issued since the law passed.

Abrams said former state Rep. John G. Rowland, now the Republican governor,
and newcomer Moira Lyons, now the Democratic House speaker, both voted for
the 1981 bill.

The new proposal would allow a doctor to provide a written certification
that would qualify a patient to use marijuana for medical purposes. The
patient would be able to grow up to three plants for personal use and could
use that certificate as a legal defense for having the illegal substance.

It would be up to the patient to possess the marijuana seeds.

The proposal is similar to laws on the books in Alaska, California,
Colorado, Hawaii and Maine. According to A Better Way Foundation, nine
states have "workable" medical marijuana laws. There are 35 states,
including Connecticut, that have passed legislation recognizing the drug's
medicinal value.

The new law would also expand the illnesses that could be treated with
medical marijuana. They would include multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease,
cachexia (a wasting syndrome typically associated with AIDS), epilepsy, and
severe pain and nausea or severe persistent muscle spasms.

Advocates claim that marijuana is more effective than prescribed drugs in
relieving pain and has fewer side effects.

But not all legislators believe there has been outcry for fully legalizing
marijuana for medical purposes. During a debate in the legislature's
Judiciary Committee in March, state Rep. John Wayne Fox, D-Stamford, noted
that no physicians, including oncologists, testified in favor of the
legislation. He said the only doctor who voiced support for the bill was an
evolutionary biologist from Yale University.

"That says something to me, folks, it really does," Fox said. "I don't
think, with all due respect, there's evidence to justify it."

Other lawmakers said they worry about the state essentially condoning an
illegal substance -- one that some consider "a gateway drug" that can lead
to use of cocaine or heroin.

Jim Battaglio, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Medical Society, said
the state group follows the American Medical Association on the issue. The
AMA has called for more studies of marijuana for patients and recommends
that authorities continue to classify marijuana as a controlled substance
pending the outcome of studies.

The national doctors' group also called on the National Institutes of
Health to research the medical utility of marijuana and develop a
smoke-free, inhaled delivery system.