MEDICAL-POT BACKERS PRESS FOR EASIER ACCESS

Mar. 22, 2001 - A roomful of rowdy medical marijuana supporters
lamented Amendment 20's ambiguities Wednesday to members of the state
Board of Health, begging them to lift restrictions that they say will
limit the drug's availability.

At a packed public hearing, supporters said the state's lack of
guidance on where to get the drug will cripple marijuana's
availability, and the federal law that still prohibits marijuana use
will keep doctors from prescribing it.

"My doctor would rather see me on Demerol than prescribe me marijuana
because it's still against federal law," said Perry Skinner, a
Holyoke resident who suffers from scoliosis. "I can't even talk to my
children about this. My doctor is a family man, he doesn't want to
give up his license to save me, and I understand that."

The federal ban on marijuana is a prickly point for doctors pondering
whether they'll prescribe marijuana as medicine, Dr. Michael Barkett,
president of the state Board of Health, said at the hearing.
"Physicians are real nervous," he said. "Thank heaven we're not in
the business of protecting doctors, but to (implement this law)."

The two hours of testimony produced a lively forum for medical
advocates whose concerns ranged from legalizing cocaine to the death
of Mexican migrant worker Ismael Mena. But most gray areas aren't
addressed in the amendment voters approved in November, which allows
people in chronic pain to obtain marijuana through a prescription.
The state Board of Health agreed Wednesday that:

- - The state will charge users $140 a year for a license to take
medical marijuana, and officials have 30 days to process license
requests. The fee goes to state administrative costs to monitor the
program.

- - To be eligible for a medical marijuana prescription, a patient must
have a written request by a doctor and can possess 2 ounces of pot
and six plants, three of which can be flowering. - The state's
register of patient users is confidential. Law enforcement officials,
however, can call to verify the status of a medical marijuana license.

"We are not the Supreme Court, we can't interpret this," said Dr.
Frank Judson, board member. "The issues of how long it takes us to
process the licenses and the potential cost of the program are things
that are debatable. But right now, we're within the bounds of what
the law said."

Stan White came to the public hearing on behalf of his 16-year-old
son who died of leukemia four years ago. "I witnessed my boy go
through incredible suffering," said White, who lives in Dillon. "If a
doctor tells someone after chemotherapy that it's going to take 30
days to get it, that's just too long."

Carol Garrett, the state health department official who has been
honing the details of the program, said she'd expedite requests in
extreme cases like that. Patient-users also said that the $140 annual
fee is too expensive.

"I just think it's a lot for patients who are on fixed incomes, and I
know a lot of people who would be using this won't be able to afford
it," said Jerry Ives, a disabled veteran whose marijuana, according
to his testimony, tempers chronic headaches and seizures. "And that
fixed income means you may have a lower grade and you have to smoke
more of it to get the effect."

State officials said if philanthropic groups pop up with funds to
help patient-users with the cost, they'd help get the word out. The
state expects about 900 people to come through the program in the
first year; in the second, up to 2,000 are expected.

"Some hearings have little interest, and this one had a lot of
interest," said Dr. Richard Hoffman, the state's chief medical
officer. "It was good animated discussion of various issues, and the
shortcomings of the amendment ... I thought the hearing went fine."