THE HAZY TRUTH

Proponents of marijuana tout its medicinal value, but opponents call the
claims a hoax

When it comes to marijuana as medicine, there's a lot of talk about
compassion. There are compassionate buying clubs that grow marijuana for
medical patients, compassionate laws and compassionate programs.

There's even the compassion question:

Is it more compassionate: a) to allow people who are very ill to use
marijuana, under a doctor's care, or b) to keep it out of circulation
because medical marijuana is a cruel hoax?

The jury could be out for a long time because opposing camps show no signs
of backing down.

For Jim Miller of Toms River, who wants to use marijuana -- legally to help
his wife Cheryl, time is running out. Cheryl, 55, who has advanced multiple
sclerosis, can barely sit up, and is growing weaker every day.

Cheryl regularly suffers from spasticity, a painful tightening of the
muscles that causes her legs to stiffen up so much Jim can barely move her.

She has a prescription for Marinol, an FDA-approved version of marijuana,
but marijuana works much better than Marinol when it comes to easing her
pain, according to Jim. Her range of motion is unbelievably different using
marijuana, says Jim, who also believes marijuana makes his wife more alert.

When Cheryl was at a rehabilitation center a while back, she was almost
thrown out of the program because it took three people to pick her up, he
says. That was before Jim slipped her marijuana brownies -- he didn't
reveal the ingredients to the staff. These days, if Cheryl has marijuana,
it's usually combined with butter because she doesn't smoke.

Jim and Cheryl have been waging a public battle to get marijuana accepted
as medicine. He's been arrested twice -- once for lying in at the doorway
to Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia's office, whom Jim blames for
single-handedly stopping the vote count on a medical marijuana referendum
in Washington, DC

Jim says when he went to court he got a $50 dollar fine and the judge
wished him luck.

But all he hopes now is that his wife of 17 years will see some progress
toward their goal while she's still alive. "I don't believe she's going to
live that long," he says. "I can't even understand how she's still with us."

Meanwhile, others claim marijuana helps relief the pressure of glaucoma as
well as the intense nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy, and
some AIDS symptoms. And although the Institute of Medicine and the American
Medical Association say there's no concrete evidence marijuana works, they
recommend further study.

Marijuana clearly has medicinal value, says Lyn Nofziger, former press
secretary to Ronald Reagan, in the foreword to "Marijuana as Medicine."
Nofziger says he turned to illegal marijuana to help an adult daughter who
was constantly vomiting after undergoing chemotherapy.

If doctors can prescribe morphine and other addictive medicines, it makes
no sense to deny marijuana to sick and dying patients when it can be
provided on a carefully controlled, prescription basis, he says.

Christian Ratsch, author of " Marijuana Medicine," says traces of hashish
- -- a concentrated form of marijuana resin -- were found in Egyptian
mummies, and that hemp has also been used over the years in Russia, Asia
and South America for allergies, blood clots, asthma and skin diseases,
among other ailments.

On the other side of the marijuana debate are a host of law-enforcement
officials, anti-drug organizations, politicians and others who believe that
besides the fact that marijuana is illegal, it doesn't work.

"To say otherwise is to lead innocent people on," says David G. Evans a
Pittstown attorney who also represents three New Jersey drug-treatment
centers. "In the long run, the kindest thing is to enforce governmental
standards of medical treatment for people...That's the most compassionate
thing because otherwise you lead people down blind alleys and you kill them."

"Smoked marijuana is an intoxicant," he says. "If you're intoxicated, it's
not helping you." He adds that smoked marijuana damages the immune system
and has more carcinogens than cigarettes.

To Evans, the proponents of medical marijuana are perpetrating a cruel hoax
by using persuasive and heart-wrenching tales about sick people. He says
although there are anecdotal stories about marijuana helping some people,
studies by several key medical groups proved it was ineffective.

"In the United States, we have a very good drug-approval process...we
should use that drug-approval process," he says. A century ago, before the
Food and Drug Administration, "We had chaos. We had snake oil," he says.

A cancer survivor himself, Evans says, "I know what it's like to be faced
with death. At that point you need good, accurate information...If I looked
at the guys who said 'Marijuana cures cancer,' I'd be dead today."

He says he believes many organizations that tout a a pro-marijuana medicine
message are actually for legalizing all marijuana.

While Evans was in Washington, DC, recently, "marijuana advocates told
schoolchildren that marijuana makes you smarter, a better driver and
prevents cancer," he says. "They're trying to say that this is not harmful,
and that's not true."

Forty-eight percent of the kids that are in drug treatment today are there
because of marijuana, he says. "We've got tons of kids that have a
marijuana problem. It's a harmful drug."

Evans is involved with a coalition of some 50 anti-drug organizations that
are gearing up to fight potential state referendums on medical marijuana.
About half the states -- but not New Jersey - have the power to hold any
kind of state referendums.

Nine states have already approved the use of medical marijuana: Alaska,
Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington. However, in May, in a case involving a California marijuana
buyers club, the Supreme Court ruled marijuana can't be sold for medicinal
purposes. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion that
marijuana has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United
States.

That case was successful. "The Supreme Court agrees with us," says Evans,
adding only a small percentage of the people who frequented marijuana
buyers clubs were actually medical users. "A lot of them are 21 year olds
who have gotten a doctor on the Internet to recommend it."

Proponents of medical marijuana say the Supreme Court ruling was strictly
about distribution, and that in states which passed referendums, people who
grow their own marijuana for medicinal use are free from prosecution under
state law -- although they could be prosecuted under federal law.

Nicolas Eyle, executive director of Reconsider, a pro-marijuana
organization says, "If a local town cop drives by and sees your plants,
they can't do anything. If a federal D. E. A. officer drives by, he can
seize your home."

On his first day in office last month, new Drug Enforcement Administration
Director Asa Hutchinson said he would strive to enforce the federal ban on
medical marijuana. Singling out a new California law allowing sick people
to receive, possess, grow or smoke marijuana for medical purposes without
fear of state prosecution, he said he was concerned about drug quality control.

Meanwhile, Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts introduced legislation
to repeal federal restrictions preventing states from allowing medical use
of marijuana, saying he didn't think the federal government should overturn
state referendums.

New Jersey state Sen. Bill Schluter also wants to see legalization of
marijuana for medical use, and has introduced a state resolution that urges
Congress to allow marijuana for medical patients under doctors' orders.

Under his proposal. "doctors will prescribe based on sound information," he
says.

Thirteen states, including New Jersey, have laws allowing medical-marijuana
research, and numerous studies already have been done, but few or these are
the rigorous clinical studies required for drug approval by the FDA.

The Millers are still hoping the state of New Jersey will get involved in a
medical-marijuana research program, and have a letter from Dr. Alan
Leshner, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, saying he is
open to "state-sponsored research projects."

But the chances appear to be slim in New Jersey, at least for now, based on
a recent letter from George DiFerdinando Jr., acting commissioner of New
Jersey's Department of Health and Senior Services, to Reed Gusciora. a
state assemblyman who inquired about research programs here. The
department's position, according to DiFerdinando, is that "based on current
federal law and New Jersey state law, marijuana remains illegal.

The Millers, who are getting ready for their semi-annual trip to
Washington, DC, hope to change that when they and other medical marijuana
proponents visit several legislators in their offices next month.

Although the trip may be a bit tough on Cheryl, "We're on," Jim says
confidently.