HAWAII BECOMES FIRST STATE TO ALLOW MEDICAL MARIJUANA VIA A BILL

HONOLULU, June 14 -- Hawaii today became the first state to use legislation
to approve the possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes. While
signing the bill into law, Gov. Benjamin J. Cayetano said it was one aspect
of his effort to make Hawaii the health care center of the Pacific.

"I'm glad to see this bill before me," Mr. Cayetano said. "My own feeling
is, more states are going to come on."

Hawaii is the eighth state to decriminalize the use of medical marijuana,
but the previous seven states did so through ballot measures.

Under the Hawaii law, patients with certain qualifying illnesses must obtain
a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana and must register with the state
Department of Public Safety to avoid criminal prosecution under state law.

The department must first formulate and carry out rules to govern the
registration process, a process that Donald Topping of the advocacy group
Drug Policy Forum estimated could take up to two months.

There are 500 to 1,000 people in Hawaii who will be eligible to use medical
marijuana, although the exact number is hard to discern because some people
keep quiet about their use, Mr. Topping said.

Mr. Topping and others agreed with Mr. Cayetano's prediction that the Hawaii
law will lead to similar legislation in other states.

"This may set an example for other states, give them the courage to
proceed," Mr. Topping said. "I think the fear of being soft on drugs is
beginning to fade now with this kind of legislation being passed."

People who are stopped by the police and found to be possessing marijuana
will have to prove they are exempt from the state's criminal laws governing
marijuana.

Those laws remain in effect for all citizens not registered with the
department.

Scott Foster, whose wife, Lynn, died five years ago from bone cancer, said
she would be happy to see this law finally approved.

"It was a horrible experience to have my wife die of cancer, smoking
marijuana and seeing her relieved from it, and knowing if I went out in the
car and got stopped, I, her caregiver, might not come home that night," Mr.
Foster said. "She'd be thrilled. She'd be laughing."

The Rev. Dennis Shields of the Religion of Jesus Church, which uses
marijuana as a sacrament, said his effort to win passage of a medical
marijuana law resulted from the death of his 7-year-old son, Ryan, from
cancer in 1991.

"I think he would be happy," said Mr. Shields, a resident of the Big Island
of Hawaii. "For him right now, going through his struggle, he would have the
opportunity not to feel the guilt some people put on him.

"When you're throwing up uncontrollably, with 100 stitches in your gut that
are fresh, you don't care about getting high, you care about stopping
throwing up."

The national Marijuana Policy Project is planning a meeting in Hawaii to
bring together the people from the eight states that have medical marijuana
laws, Mr. Topping said.

The group is working to get medical marijuana bills introduced in 40 other
states and is pushing current legislation in Maryland.

"The second wave of the campaign to protect medical marijuana users is under
way," said Chuck Thomas, spokesman for the project, based in Washington.
"The first wave was the passage of state ballot initiatives. The second is
state legislation and the third will be federal legislation."

Voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and
the District of Columbia have approved medical marijuana laws. The Justice
Department is challenging those laws.