LUEBKE INTRODUCES MARIJUANA STUDY BILL

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A state lawmaker has introduced a bill to study
the possibility of allowing patients to use, possess or grow marijuana
with their doctors' approval.

Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, said Wednesday that he does not know enough
about the medical use of marijuana to endorse it, but knows that it
ought to be studied.

"The question is whether people are willing to examine the issue as a
pain reliever and not get caught up in the presuppositions with that
particular substance," Luebke said.

The Hawaii legislature enacted a medical marijuana law last June and
seven states have enacted similar measures through ballot initiatives:
Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C., group that works to
decriminalize marijuana use, said North Carolina was on "the cutting
edge of the medical marijuana issue" in 1979 when it enacted a law
allowing physicians to administer marijuana-related products.

But in 1987, the group said, the legislature rewrote the law to say
physicians may only administer THC, the primary active ingredient in
marijuana. THC was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration
as a prescription medicine in 1985, the group said.

"Unfortunately, the North Carolina legislature was hoodwinked by the
federal government's approval of the THC pill, which does not work as
well as marijuana for most patients," said Chuck Thomas, a spokesman for
the Marijuana Policy Project. "Many patients continue to use natural
marijuana, especially cancer patients who are vomiting from
chemotherapy, who can't keep pills down and need the immediate relief
that a puff of marijuana can provide."