DRUG PROSECUTOR FACED PERSONAL CRISIS

Keith Vines, former San Francisco narcotics prosecutor, said he found
himself in a quandary when his doctor suggested he try marijuana for a
life-threatening medical condition.

"I was a prosecutor, and I was also a dying patient," he said in an
interview here.

Vines was diagnosed in 1993 with AIDS Wasting Syndrome. He lost about 50
pounds, he said. His physician told him there was no cure "and it was a
matter of time ..." he said.

He said he started growth hormone treatment in a study evaluating Marinol
for Food and Drug Administration approval, but he needed to eat three meals
a day and he had no appetite.

The drug didn't work for him and his doctor suggested he consider using
marijuana, he said. "She sat down with me and listed all the risks and
benefits and alternatives ...

"I was sort of at the ledge. I was reaching out to my doctor and she was
treating me as a patient, not an assistant district attorney.

"When you're facing death and your doctor says this may help you stay
alive, looking at it from a patient perspective, you want to use any
medicine if they alleviate your pain."

Vines has been with the San Francisco district attorney's office since 1985
and is now chief of the psychiatric unit. He prosecuted narcotics cases
from 1989 to 1994.

In 1990, he was on a federally funded drug enforcement strike force and was
responsible for the second largest drug bust in San Francisco's history.

He has been meeting with Hawaii legislators and officials to discuss
pending legislation to legalize use of marijuana for debilitating medical
conditions.

Although he was reluctant after his physician talked to him about it, he
said he obtained some marijuana from a buyer's club in San Francisco and it
worked.

He said it helped him regain his weight with the growth hormone. "It was
pretty miraculous."

He's back up to 200 pounds and now needs only a small amount of marijuana
for his appetite, he said.

He said he's on protease inhibitors and doing fine. "You wouldn't know from
meeting me that I actually had AIDS" and was "wasting away, having to sit
on pillows because my body was skin and bones" seven years ago, he said.

"I work with law enforcement and I respect them," he said, "but I think
there is a big difference between someone using marijuana under the
supervision of a treating physician for medicinal purposes and someone
using marijuana for purposes of recreation."

He said he obtains marijuana from delivery services allowed to dispense
marijuana under San Francisco's Proposition 215, which exempts people from
state prosecution who meet certain criteria.

"The reality is, we don't see abuse. We don't see youth breaking down doors
of these establishments trying to pretend they're seriously ill."

Vines feels the bill to legalize medicinal marijuana in Hawaii has
appropriate safeguards.

"Initially, maybe law enforcement is a little uneasy about it. Once it's
passed and you start seeing elderly people and people with cancer, a small
subset of the population, getting it, law enforcement will back away."

Vines also disputes an argument that legalizing medicinal marijuana sends
the wrong message about drug use.

He said he has a young son in college who told him, "Dad, if it helps you
feel better and stay alive, go for it."

"I think the message is quite different than what the federal government
says the message is," Vines said. "What message do we send from our federal
government when we say, 'Let's arrest seriously ill patients?'"