HAWAII GOVERNOR SIGNS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

HONOLULU - Sick Hawaiians who grow, possess and use marijuana
with the approval of their doctors no longer face state-level criminal
penalties for doing so.

Gov. Ben Cayetano, a Democrat, signed a bill Wednesday decriminalizing
the use of marijuana by that group, a spokeswoman said.

Though similar laws have been passed in seven states and the District
of Columbia since 1996, Hawaii is the first state where the law was
enacted by a state legislature rather than through a ballot initiative.

Ballot initiatives used elsewhere

In the other states -- Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Colorado and
Nevada -- the laws were changed by statewide initiatives.

But only half the 50 states have an initiative process. In order to
pass laws nationwide, "we have to be able to win this in a traditional
manner," said Keith Stroup, executive director of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, in Washington.

Support found for legalizing medical use

Polls have found 73 percent of Americans say they favor legalizing the
medical use of the drug if a doctor recommends it, but elected
officials have been reluctant to pass such legislation, said Stroup.

"We think this will be the start of a series of states over the next
two or three years," he said.

Use of the drug remains illegal under federal laws, but the FBI's
statistics show that 99 percent of marijuana arrests are made by state
and local police, said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana
Policy Project, in Washington, which advocates patient access to
medical marijuana.