MEDICINAL MARIJUANA USERS WATCH, HOPE FOR D.C. BILL TO LEGALIZE USE

WASHINGTON If medicinal marijuana becomes legal in Washington, D.C.,
Maryland resident Leslie Miller is willing to pack her bags and move. The
Chestertown computer consultant said she took marijuana to control the
debilitating pain in her legs and back after a 1990 car accident.

But she is on probation now, after being pulled over last year for speeding
and then arrested for possessing 2 grams of marijuana. But Miller, 42, sees
fresh hope for people like herself, after the passage of Initiative 59 in
Washington, which would allow the use of marijuana on a doctor's
recommendation.

"God gave me this body to take care of, and if I have to move into D.C. to
do that, I will," she said.

The Marijuana Policy Project in Washington estimates that there are at
least 2,000 people in Maryland like Miller who use marijuana for medicinal
purposes. Project spokesman Chuck Thomas said that, like her, at least some
people from neighboring states might be tempted to move to Washington if it
legalizes the use of marijuana.

``I know many people moved to California, where marijuana use for medicinal
purposes is legal," he said.

Before that happens, though, the initiative will have to get by members of
Congress, who have vowed to block what they see as an end run around drug
laws.

Washington voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 59 in November, but
the results were kept sealed until a federal judge ordered the ballots
counted this month, after Congress initially denied funding for the tally.

Possessing marijuana is a misdemeanor in both Washington and Maryland. In
Maryland, possession is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of
$1,000.

But Initiative 59 would legalize the possession, use, cultivation and
distribution of marijuana in Washington, if it was recommended by a
physician for treatment of serious illnesses.

Four states - California, Alaska, Oregon and Washington - allow patients to
use marijuana without fear of arrest if they have a doctor's written
recommendation. Arizona passed limited laws last year allowing use of
medicinal marijuana, and Colorado and Nevada have medicinal marijuana
initiatives on their November 2000 ballots.

In the 1970s and 1980s, states including Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Alabama
and Louisiana passed laws that let doctors recommend marijuana but did not
waive criminal penalties for users, Thomas said.

Maryland is one of 16 states with no laws allowing medicinal marijuana use,
and Thomas and others said they were not aware of any efforts in the state
to legalize medicinal marijuana.

State officials say they are worried about the potentially dangerous side
effects of such a law. The Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration
is ``still reviewing the medical use of marijuana - we have not yet taken
any position on it," said Thomas Davis, director of the agency.

``We are concerned about the psychological effect this may have on people,
and the abuse potential of marijuana outside a controlled environment like
a hospital," he said. Davis said he hopes any move by Washington on medical
marijuana would take these factors into account.

But Thomas said abuse is not a likely fallout of the D.C. initiative.

``People still need a doctor's recommendation to possess marijuana. It's
not so easy to just sideline the laws," he said.

Republicans in Congress are confident the D.C. initiative will never become
law.

Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., whose budget amendment last year blocked the counting
of the initiative ballots, has amended this year's D.C. budget to prohibit
the city from legalizing marijuana.

``It would be a travesty for Congress to stand by and allow a handful of
activists to overturn federal narcotics laws with an argument that is,
medically speaking, the worst kind of quackery," Barr said in a prepared
statement.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va. and chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees
Washington, said the referendum is too dangerous in its current form
because it does not require a doctor's prescription, just a recommendation,
according to a spokesman.

But Thomas said the difference between a prescription and a written
recommendation was the difference between ``a slip of paper and a letterhead."

People in Washington have a right to decide for themselves on the issue of
medicinal marijuana without interference from congressmen from other
states, he said. Despite the opposition to Initiative 59, Thomas said he
believes it has a ``decent" chance.

Leslie Miller hopes he is right.

"How can we not educate and treat people who need medical marijuana?" she
asked.