MEDICAL MARIJUANA QUESTION PASSES

Supporters of Question 4 on Last Week's Election Ballot Gave New
Meaning to the Concept of Grassroots Campaigning.

Nearly 70 percent of Bedford voters cast their ballots in favor of
the nonbinding initiative, which calls for legislation that would
allow seriously ill patients to possess and grow small amounts of
marijuana for medical use.

The Public Policy Question appeared on ballots in the nine
communities that make up the 3rd Middlesex Senatorial District,
represented by Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, who heads the Joint
Committee on Public Health. The ballot initiative also appeared in
parts of Milton and Randolph, which comprise the 7th Norfolk
Representative District, represented by Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry. The
question was passed in all 11 communities by an average margin of 67 percent.

Bill Downing, director of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition
(MASS CANN), said the showing of public support did not surprise him.
According to Downing, more than 110 communities across the state have
voted in favor of various marijuana reform questions since 2000.

"The election results matched exactly with the results we've been
seeing on all of our ballot questions in the past. Almost half the
state has voted on these issues now," said Downing.

MASS CANN, the state affiliate of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), worked directly with the Drug
Policy Forum of Massachusetts, which sponsored two marijuana-related
ballot questions in this year's elections, Downing said. A question
regarding the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana
appeared on ballots in the 1st and 12th Plymouth Representative
Districts, passing by a margin of 61 and 60 percent, respectively.

Downing said he is hopeful the passing of the nonbinding initiative
at the polls will soon translate into the passing of binding
legislation at the State House. Downing said previous marijuana
reform bills have been tied up in committee and never reached the
House or Senate floors, but that pressure is building on legislators
to act on what seems to be a public mandate.

"Politicians are reticent to take stands on issues unless they have
to. The goal of these ballot initiatives was to force the politicians
to take a stand and represent their constituents," Downing said.

While legislators have largely ignored past proposals for the
decriminalization of marijuana, Downing said MASS CANN and other
marijuana reform groups have had some success in pushing medical
marijuana bills.

In 1993, then Gov. Bill Weld signed a bill establishing a state
therapeutic research program to perform studies on the medicinal
benefits of marijuana, Downing said. The program never got off the
ground, however, as the federal Drug Enforcement Agency refused to
supply marijuana to the state Department of Public Health, he said.
This year's ballot question supports legislation that would
circumvent the DEA supply ban by allowing medical marijuana patients
to grow small amounts of the drug for personal use, Downing said.

According to the American Medical Association, the main psychoactive
substance in marijuana, THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), may have
medical applications in treating many diseases. According to the AMA,
studies have shown that THC may be effective in reducing malnutrition
and weight loss in HIV/AIDS patients, chemotherapy-induced nausea and
vomiting in cancer patients, intraocular pressure in glaucoma
patients, and spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis and
other movement disorders.

Doctors are telling their patients that marijuana could help their
symptoms, Downing said, but they can't get it for them because it is
a controlled substance.

"You've got people who are suffering from serious diseases who are
being forced out into the black market to buy it from heroin dealers
on the street. Politicians always talk about not wanting to send the
wrong message to our kids, but what kind of message does that send?"
Downing said.

Detective Lt. Scott Jones of the Bedford Police Department said
legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana would not have a big impact
from a law enforcement point of view. If such legislation were to
pass, Jones said, police officers would treat cases of marijuana
possession like any other prescription drug

"I don't know that it would make things any harder for us. The way it
is now with drug possession cases, we have to prove that it is a
controlled substance and that it was possessed illegally," Jones
said. "If someone claimed it was for a medical reason, it would be up
to us to prove that they didn't have a legitimate right to the drug."

Selectman Sheldon Moll said he does not support the distribution of
drugs in general, but that he is in favor of it if there is a clear
medical benefit. Moll said he had a friend many years ago who was
suffering from Hodgkin's Disease, a form of lymphatic cancer. Moll
said the only way his friend could relieve the pain from his
treatments was to take marijuana.

"I don't like the idea of drugs in our society. But if something
helps somebody and it's not being abused, how can you be against it?" Moll said.