OPPOSES MEDICINAL MARIJUANA, AGENCY SAYS

(Fayetteville) -- A Fayetteville-based group plans to push ahead on
efforts to convince Arkansas voters to legalize medicinal marijuana,
but it can't expect support from the state Department of Health.

The group's proposal would require the state agency to help administer
a medicinal marijuana program, but the department said Thursday it
opposes such use because of the scientific findings of marijuana's
dangers.

The Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas is one of three
parties campaigning for ballot initiatives either to reduce criminal
penalties for having small amounts of marijuana or to allow its use
without penalty for medicinal purposes.

Controlled doses of inhaled marijuana can ease nausea and stimulate
the appetite of chronically ill and terminally ill patients suffering
from cancer, AIDS, and multiple sclerosis, said Denele Campbell of
Fayetteville, the alliance's president.

The group wants to collect 70,000 signatures on its petitions.
Campbell said the group won't turn in any petitions to the secretary
of state's office unless it gets at least 60,000 signatures. The group
has until early July to get the signatures of nearly 57,000 registered
voters needed to get its proposal on the ballot.

If the initiative makes the ballot and voters approve it, Arkansas
would join Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington, D.C., in the approval of medicinal marijuana.

The alliance's initiative calls for physicians who deem marijuana
necessary in the treatment of their patients to notify the state
Department of Health. The Health Department would then be required to
issue a registry identification card to the patient, which would state
the patient could legally smoke certain amounts of marijuana
determined by the doctor. The cards would also protect the patients
from criminal charges if they did not exceed the amount of marijuana
they were allowed to have.

The Health Department does not approve of the medicinal use of
marijuana. The department issued a statement Thursday outlining its
position on the issue.

"Scientific research has shown marijuana to be harmful to a person's
brain, heart, lungs, immune system, memory, perception, judgment and
motivation," the statement, issued in response to media inquiries,
said. "Use of marijuana as a beneficial medicine projects a false and
fraudulent message contradicting current scientific knowledge and research."

The Health Department's statement said that arguments for marijuana's
medicinal use are "largely based on emotional appeals and anecdotal
accounts of physical or psychological efficiency. More harmful health
outcomes are likely to occur in most patients from the medicinal use
of marijuana than solutions to existing health problems."

The statement said a prescription drug contains the main component of
marijuana without the negative effects of smoked marijuana.

The drug, Marinol, is composed primarily of tetrahydrocannabinol, more
commonly knows as THC, said William D. Wessinger, associate professor
at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Department of
Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Marinol is a Federal Drug Administration-approved drug available
through prescription, Wessinger said.

"Marinol is not interchangeable with marijuana," Campbell said. "It's
like saying pure grain alcohol is the same as a glass of red wine.
There are other things in marijuana other than the active
ingredient."

For some patients, Marinol tends to provide too strong a dose,
Campbell said. Patients allowed to smoke marijuana would have more
control over their dosages, she said.

Campbell said she is not surprised by the Health Department's
reaction, but ultimately "it's not up to them. The state is controlled
by the citizens."

The Health Department has not made any provisions for administering a
medicinal marijuana program, according to the statement issued Thursday.

"They're obviously not very well informed on the issue," Campbell
said. "We are not surprised, because there's been a lot of hysteria in
formulating drug policy. One of our tasks is to bring the level of
education and knowledge up. We couldn't expect anyone to support
medical marijuana when they don't even know the therapeutic uses of
marijuana, which, obviously if [the Health Department is] making that
statement, they don't."

Campbell said she remains optimistic the initiative will get on the
ballot.

"We've got hundreds of petitions out there," Campbell said. "If even
half are filled up, we've got thousands [of signatures]."

The alliance has distributed petitions in Washington, Madison, Benton,
Carroll, Sebastian, Johnson, Boone, Marion, Baxter, Pulaski, Hot
Springs, Faulkner, Garland, Perry, Saline and Van Buren counties, she
said.

The Arkansas chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, also known as NORML, is also making a push to put a
marijuana issue on the ballot, as is a North Little Rock man, Barry
Emigh.

The reform group's initiative proposes that possession of an ounce or
less of marijuana be punishable by no more than $200 and no prison
time.

Emigh's initiative would allow the use of marijuana for medical
purposes without a doctor's prescription and would reduce the penalty
for possession of a half-ounce or less to a $75 fine.

The alliance's proposal differs from the other two initiatives in that
it would require a doctor's prescription for marijuana use.

State Rep. Jim Lendall, D-Mabelvale, proposed a bill during the
state's 82nd General Assembly in 1999 that would have permitted
medical use of marijuana. Lendall is a registered nurse who contends
that marijuana is safer than such drugs as morphine.

"I've known enough people outside of my work who have had cancer, MS
[multiple sclerosis], and other illnesses where marijuana appeared to
alleviate some of the symptoms, or at least allowed some of the other
medications to work better," Lendall said. "Unfortunately, the current
atmosphere has made it very difficult to advocate it."

Lendall said he hopes the medicinal marijuana movement is successful,
and if it isn't, he plans to push for similar legislation during next
year's legislative session.

The American Medical Association favors allowing the National
Institutes of Health to conduct controlled "well-designed clinical
research into the medical utility of marijuana. ... The AMA believes
that the NIH should use its resources and influence to support the
development of a smoke-free inhaled delivery system for marijuana ...
to reduce the health hazards associated with the combustion and
inhalation of marijuana," according to a statement by the American
Medical Association.

The group's position calls for study but advocates the freedom for
doctors to discuss treatment options with their patients.

The group "believes that effective patient care requires the free and
unfettered exchange of information on treatment alternatives and that
discussion of these alternatives between physicians and patients
should not subject either party to criminal sanctions."

The Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas is to meet at noon
Saturday at the Fayetteville Public Library. The meeting will include
the telling of stories of patients prosecuted for medical marijuana
use, Campbell said.

"Hopefully at some point there will be a little bit more compassion
and a little bit more common sense," she said.