MARIJUANA USE STILL HAZY

JUNEAU - Alaska's medical marijuana law goes into effect today, offering a
legal shield to people who smoke it for a short list of medical ailments.

Nearly 60 percent of voters in the November election favored the measure,
which allows marijuana use for ailments including cancer, AIDS, glaucoma,
chronic pain, seizures and muscle spasms, provided the patient has a
doctor's recommendation. The law allows patients to grow limited amounts of
marijuana and protects doctors who recommend it.

Although the law calls for identification cards that medical marijuana users
could show to fend off arrest, the state Department of Health and Social
Services is not yet accepting applications for a registry of qualified
patients.

Even without a card, the law provides a defense if people using marijuana
for medical purposes are arrested. Patients are allowed to keep one ounce of
marijuana, or grow six plants, including three flowering plants.

"I would expect that the police would exercise some discretion, and ask
appropriate questions that would allow them to gain enough information to
determine if the person is legitimately using marijuana for medical purpose
or just using it as an excuse," said Dean Guaneli, the state's chief
assistant attorney general.

Ned Tuthill wishes the law had come about a few years earlier. The retired
airline pilot was using marijuana to ease chronic pain caused by a severe
car crash when a neighbor complained to authorities about the marijuana
patch on Tuthill's property in Homer.

Tuthill was placed on probation after a plea bargain that forbids him from
smoking marijuana.

"I have periods of time when my pain is so severe that I just can't do
anything," said Tuthill, 48, who adds that other pain medications nauseate
him.

Medical marijuana initiatives that passed in Alaska and four other states in
November were carefully crafted to avoid the stigma of legalizing marijuana
for recreational use. Nevertheless, opponents portrayed the measures as the
thin edge of a broader attempt at legalization.

Because growing, selling or using marijuana for recreational purposes
remains illegal, and marijuana is still classified with heroin and LSD under
federal law, acquiring the drug for medical purposes could pose problems.

"I suspect patients who know other patients will set things up, but really
it's a continuing problem," said David Finkelstein, treasurer of Alaskans
for Medical Rights, the group that campaigned for the measure. "Some people
will go and get seeds and grow their own. That's really the safest thing to
do."

A bill introduced in Congress on Wednesday would eliminate federal
restrictions on states to allow medical marijuana use. The bill's sponsor,
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., acknowledged that the Republican-controlled
Congress is unlikely to pass the measure.

The state's registry of qualified patients must be in place by June 1, said
Al Zangri, chief of the state Bureau of Vital Statistics.

Patients who want a card will be charged a $25 fee and asked to provide
their name, address, Social Security number and a written statement from a
physician indicating that they have a debilitating condition that would be
helped by marijuana.

The bureau will verify the claim by calling the doctor, Zangri said. The
patient can also designate a caregiver who also would be protected from
arrest and prosecution. Patients will be required to surrender their cards
once they no longer suffer from a qualified ailment.