OPINIONS CLASH OVER LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

MANSFIELD -- There's an age bias in north central Ohio when it comes
to loosening laws on marijuana.

"I don't think it should be legal," said Dave Keller, 67, of
Mansfield. "It's been illegal for years. There must be a reason for
that. Just because people keep smoking it doesn't mean it's OK."

Congress banned marijuana in the United States in 1937.

Ron Abraham, 71, doesn't think it's time to change a thing. "We should
just stick with the laws we already have,"Abraham said.

But 47-year-old Joyce Crall of Ashland resides on the other side of
the fence.

"I don't think it's any worse than alcohol, which is legal," she said.
"There are a lot more people who abuse alcohol than there are people
who smoke marijuana."

Mike Roberts, 24, of Mansfield agrees.

"I really don't see the harm," he said. "Some of my friends smoke it
and I don't see that it's hurt them at all. Is smoking marijuana any
different that drinking beer? I don't think so."

Twelve states, beginning with Oregon in 1973, have reduced penalties
for pot possession and its recreational use from a felony to a
misdemeanor with fines as little as $100.

Several other states and some cities are considering loosening some of
their marijuana laws. An Arizona issue would reduce penalties for
possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana. A new law, if passed in
Nevada, would eliminate the threat of arrest for adults 21 and over
who possess and use up to 3 ounces of marijuana. It also would require
the state to implement a regulated marijuana market and allow
seriously ill patents to obtain marijuana at a lower cost than
nonmedical users.

John Precup admits he regularly uses marijuana.

"But I'm not a criminal," he said. "I use marijuana because it's the
only thing that can stop the nausea I have on a daily basis."

Precup is president of the Ohio Patient Network and has multiple
sclerosis. He's an advocate for the medicinal use of marijuana.

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, Precup woke up one morning
with "bed spins."

"I spent three days in bed and then another seven days in the
hospital," he said. "I couldn't keep anything down. I lost 15 pounds
in 10 days. They tried a lot of different things to stop the nausea.
None of them worked."

He then said he remembered jokes from the old Cheech and Chong movies
about marijuana causing the munchies.

"I thought if I smoked I might be able to eat," he said. "Five minutes
after I smoked, the nausea was gone. I consider it a miracle. Ever
since, that's the only thing that controls it."

He said a prescription drug called Marinol contains the same
ingredients as marijuana and also can control his nausea. For about
two years it has been available to him. Before that, it was only
available for AIDS or cancer patients.

"It helps," he said. "But sometimes I can't keep it down. And because
it's a pill, I have to wait 45 minutes before it can take effect. The
marijuana provides almost instant relief. All I'm trying to do is to
maintain my quality of life."

Precup says a bill to make the medicinal use of marijuana legal in
Ohio is slowly working its way through Congress.

"Right now it's in the Legislative Services Committee," he said. "I
don't expect anything until after the elections. But I think something
good will come out of it. At least we're a lot further along now than
we've been before."

Nine states, mostly in the West, have legalized cultivation and use of
small amounts of marijuana by AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and epilepsy
patients with a doctor's authorization.

Information about the Ohio Patient Network and the proposed bill are
available on the Internet at www.OhioPatient.net