TRIAL TO HIGHLIGHT USE OF MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The 32 inches of titanium and six metal screws in
Joe Tacl's back since he was run over by a van six years ago have left him
in nearly constant pain.

He says it gets better, though, when he can take heavy doses of pain
medication - and when he can smoke marijuana to help his digestive system
tolerate the painkillers.

``How the man stays alive and copes with life is beyond me,'' said his
wife, Anne.

Pain or not, Joe Tacl is a criminal, say Levy County authorities.

Marijuana is an illegal drug and when Tacl goes before a jury this week in
Bronson, prosecutors will try to convince a jury that a ``medical marijuana
defense'' is bogus.

Jury selection begins Monday.

Tacl was arrested last year for having marijuana plants - between five and
nine, depending on who you believe - at his house. Police also found a
small bag of pot in his house.

A recent court ruling in Florida said people can use medical need as a
defense in marijuana cases, and the Tacl case is seen by supporters and
opponents as one of the first tests of that defense since the ruling.

But just because courts have said the defense should be allowed, that
doesn't mean a jury will accept it.

Anne Tacl said she thinks jurors - her neighbors in this sleepy farming
area west of Gainesville - will approve ``once they hear what he's been
through.''

``Without medicine, Joe has no quality of life,'' she said.

And without marijuana, Tacl and others who say they need to smoke the plant
say they can't handle that medicine. The massive doses of strong
painkillers also killed Tacl's appetite, his wife said.

``He was unable to eat,'' she said. ``There wasn't anything he could do but
stop taking (painkillers).''

Jurors will see Tacl on a hospital bed at his trial. His attorney, Andrew
Fine, also plans to call as a witness Tacl's ``pain management doctor,''
who will testify about his client's agony.

Prosecutors, who have said they plan to vigorously attack the medical
marijuana defense, didn't return calls seeking comment for this story.

Although six states have approved the use of marijuana as a drug for
medical use, possessing it is a federal crime and illegal under state law
in Florida.

And while he wouldn't comment on the Tacl case, Florida's chief drug
enforcement officer said that is as it should be.

``I believe it is yet to be proven there's anything medical about
marijuana,'' said Jim McDonough, who heads the state's office of drug
control policy.

McDonough said there isn't any scientific evidence that smoking marijuana
is medically beneficial. Scientists have been unable to reach a consensus.

The Institute of Medicine, an affiliate of the National Academy of
Sciences, said in March that marijuana's active ingredients can ease the
pain, nausea and vomiting caused by cancer and AIDS.

However, the report added that more scientific study was needed. And it
urged development of a different way to use the drug, such as an inhaler.

Federal drug control officials also are pinning some hopes on Marinol, a
legal prescription drug derived from marijuana. It has been used to treat
weight loss associated with AIDS and chemotherapy.

McDonough said he doesn't have a problem with drugs like Marinol, but that
smoking plain marijuana isn't the same. ``There is no other drug in
American medicine that is smoked,'' he said.

He said his position is bolstered by a correlation between early marijuana
smoking and later abuse of harder dangerous drugs. ``I ask addicts, `How
did you begin?' and they tell me marijuana 95 percent of the time,''
McDonough said.

Allowing medical use could open the door for anyone who wants to smoke pot
to claim a medical condition, McDonough said.

Opponents of medical marijuana say there are other drugs to do the same
thing marijuana users claim smoking the plant does for them. Many of those
drugs are far more expensive, though.

Opponents of medical marijuana argue the cost of a legal drug is no reason
to allow people to use an illicit narcotic. But Fine said many of those
drugs also may be more dangerous than marijuana.

``The question is, what is the best drug?'' Fine said. ``In a lot of cases,
it seems as if marijuana falls into that category.''