SIDES ARGUE MARIJUANA AT HEARING

A man with the virus that causes AIDS accused bureaucrats Thursday of
holding up efforts to legalize marijuana for use as a medicine.

"It's incompassionate to make us get 70,000 signatures so I can get
medical treatment," the man, who did not wish to be identified, told
about 20 people at a meeting in Little Rock.

The hearing pitted those who support the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes against Dr. Richard Nugent, a state health official
who said the drug has potentially dangerous side-effects and should be
studied more.

Denele Campbell of West Fork represented the Alliance for Reform of
Drug Policy in Arkansas, a group that is trying to get an initiative
legalizing marijuana as medicine on the November ballot. Two law
students also spoke at the event, sponsored by the Green Party of the
University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The alliance has until July to gather signatures of at least 56,481
Arkansas registered voters. So far it has 4000, Campbell said before
the meeting.

If the "Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act" lands on the ballot and
passes, Arkansas would become the eighth state to allow the sick to
smoke marijuana, she said. Activists in about a dozen other states
are trying to get medical marijuana use legalized by voters or
legislatures.

Campbell, a piano tuner and mother of three, said she entered into the
effort last year after a friend died of breast cancer. Wracked with
pain from her tumors and nausea from the chemotherapy, the woman
obtained marijuana illegally after her doctor recommended it. It
relieved her suffering and allowed her to tolerate the intense
treatment without taking drugs that knocked her out, Campbell said.

"I was outraged," she said. " here's this woman struggling with
probably the hardest thing anyone would ever have to face in their
whole life, and it's adding insult to injury that she had to worry
about getting arrested in order to use it the medication that would
help her the most. "

The alliance's proposed act is similar to Oregon's law and would allow
patients suffering from specific debilitating medical conditions such
as cancer and multiple sclerosis to grow and smoke marijuana. The man
at the meeting who has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, for example,
could take his medical record or a note from his doctor to a county
health unit and receive an identification card protecting him from
criminal prosecution. Then that he could buy marijuana on the black
market -- though Campbell's group does not endorse the practice -- or
grow up to six plants a year. The act would also allow a disabled
person to designate a caregiver that could grow the marijuana for him.

But Nugent, speaking on behalf of the State Department of Health, said
marijuana smoke is similar to tobacco smoke in that it contains
harmful tar. Patients should use synthetic and legal drugs, like
Marinol, until more is known about marijuana's long-term effect on the
body or until scientists develop ways to ingest it without the smoke,
he said.

"I'm only arguing to continue the band until that scientific evidence
is in," he said, adding that legalizing marijuana for medical use may
hinder efforts to enroll patients in studies, since they would be able
to obtain it anyway.

Campbell replied that holding off for more research is "cruel" because
people on the verge of death just want to feel better and be able to
function. "Whether they're going to get cancer in 20 years" doesn't
matter she said, adding that drugs like Marinol are extremely expensive.

In February, Barry Emigh of North Little Rock said he was also
gathering signatures to place on the ballot a constitutional amendment
legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes and reducing it
the penalties for possession of up to a half ounce. He could not be
reached for comment Thursday.

A third petition drive led by Glen Schwarz of Little Rock, would
reduce the fines for marijuana possession but would not legalize it
for medicinal use. Schwarz, who attended a Thursday's meeting, said he
has collected only 2000 signatures and supports the alliance's proposal.