MEDICAL MARIJUANA STILL GOOD IDEA

Patients should not be arrested for using medical marijuana if they have
their doctors' approval.

This is what 73 percent of Maryland voters believe, according to an article
distributed by Capital News Service, which was published in your newspaper.
. This well-written article didn't mention that cancer and AIDS patients
who are arrested for even the smallest amount of med-ical marijuana face
one year in a Maryland prison and a $1,000 state fine, as well as one year
In a federal prison and a $10,000 federal fine.

Thankfully, Delegate Don Murphy (R-Catonsville) is intro-ducing legislation
that will remove criminal penalties for patients who need to use medical
marijuana. While the Maryland state legislature cannot change our nation's
cruel federal law, they should go ahead and pass Del. Murphy's bill to
change state law.

Why? Because 95 percent of medical marijuana offenders, just like all other
criminal defendants, are arrested under state law, not federal law,
according to the FBI and the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Quite simply, the
federal government doesn't have the resources to send thousands of DEA
agents across Maryland, sweeping up and arresting people who are growing a
marijuana plant to treat multiple sclerosis and other serious conditions.

But Maryland patients continue to be arrested under state law, including
AIDS patient Jerry Mensch (1994), car accident victim Leslie Miller (1998),
epilepsy patient Kern Andrews (1998), and fibromyalgia sufferer Kitty
Thcker (1999).

Protecting patients from state-level prosecution is the most important
thing that Maryland state legislators can do on this front. And they should.

Robert D. Kampia,
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
RKampia@mpp.org