ADS PUSH LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

The campaign to legalize the medical use of marijuana unveiled two
television ads Tuesday, along with a list of 175 health-care professionals
who support the campaign.

The 30-second ads, which will run four to five times a day on Maine TV
stations through Election Day, feature a doctor and a nurse talking about
the medical benefits of marijuana for people suffering from diseases such
as cancer and AIDS.

The TV ads are a first for Mainers for Medical Rights, the group behind
Question 2, a referendum to legalize the possession and use of marijuana
for certain medical purposes.

Last week the group started running a radio ad featuring Mark Dion, the
Cumberland County sheriff, speaking out in favor of Question 2.

Craig Brown, a spokesman for Mainers for Medical Rights, said the group has
been saving its advertising dollars for the end of the campaign. He said
the group does not plan any other last-minute efforts to win voters before
the election.

Question 2 has no organized opposition, but several groups have come out
against it, including law enforcement officials, the Maine Medical
Association and the Maine Pharmaceutical Association.

Gov. Angus King has voiced his opposition, and on Tuesday U.S. Attorney Jay
McCloskey reiterated his concerns that legalizing the medicinal use of
marijuana would lead to more illegal use and send the wrong message to
Maine youth.

The new TV ads focus on the perspective of health-care professionals who
support Question 2.

In the first ad, Dr. Richard Baldwin, an internist from South Gardiner,
appears sitting in a doctor's office, wearing a white coat and holding a
stethoscope.

"If you're undergoing cancer chemotherapy, severe nausea and vomiting are
common side effects," he says. "And they often fail to respond to available
medications. Fortunately, there is a medicine that can help. It's marijuana."

The ad goes on to compare marijuana to morphine, and points out that
non-medical uses of marijuana would remain illegal under the proposed law.

The second ad features Elly Cary, a registered nurse from Harpswell who has
cared for many people in the last stages of cancer during her 35-year career.

"Marijuana could ease the suffering of some of them," she says. "I know it
works. But today it's against the law."

Mainers for Medical Rights has also put together a list of 175 health-care
professionals who support the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

There are only a dozen physicians on the list. Most are nurses, but there
are also social workers, physician assistants, medical technologists and
even an acupuncturist.

"There's a number of them who have worked with patients using marijuana,"
Brown said. "There are others who support it on principle. There's really a
mix, but a lot of them are people who felt that they needed to speak out
after the Maine Medical Association resolution against us."

On Sept. 17, delegates to the Maine Medical Association's annual convention
overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing Question 2. There are about
3,000 doctors in Maine, and 2,050 of them are members of the Maine Medical
Association.

The resolution stated that more research needs to be done on the medical
marijuana issue, that potency of the drug needs to be controlled, and that
there ought be a better "delivery system" for the drug than smoking.

Brown said that his group agrees with the physicians' concerns, but
believes that while those issues are being addressed people who need
marijuana to relieve suffering should have access to it.

Gordon Smith, executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association,
said he was surprised that Brown could find even a dozen Maine doctors to
put on his list.

He said most doctors already quietly "look the other way" when their
patients who need marijuana use it, and that's not likely to change no
matter what the outcome of Question 2. But these same physicians are
worried about violating federal drug laws if the referendum passes and they
are asked to openly endorse their patients' drug use.

"The physicians in Maine, in my opinion, do not have any difficulty with a
patient who's having chemotherapy or who has AIDS being assisted by
marijuana," he said.

"That's not the issue to us. The issue to us is the role of the physicians
and the fact that the federal government proclaims that it will continue to
keep marijuana as a Schedule 1 narcotic."

Maine is the first state east of the Mississippi to vote on legalizing
marijuana for medical use. Voters have approved similar referendums in six
other states: California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Alaska.