MEDICAL POT BILL ADVANCES

Advocates Make Impassioned Case In Favor Of Legislation

HONOLULU - People with debilitating or terminal illnesses went to the
Legislature on Tuesday with a single message: Let us smoke marijuana
to alleviate our pain.

A bill to allow people in Hawaii suffering from severe illnesses to
smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes without fear of criminal
prosecution was approved by two House committees.

The House Health and Public Safety committees agreed to forward the
measure to the House Judiciary Committee following a more than
three-hour hearing in which people who were ill or caring for sick
people made sometimes eloquent pleas for legislative relief.

"I am a Marine veteran from World War II. Why should I have to
stumble around the streets trying to buy some marijuana?" said Jerry
Hunt, a Hilo man who walks with an artificial right leg. "I'm
disgusted with it. This is not what I served my country for."

After the hearing, Hunt stood outside the Capitol and smoked a
marijuana cigarette during a television interview, while at least one
other person who testified smoked from a marijuana pipe off camera.

Voters in six states have passed initiatives allowing for medicinal
marijuana. If the bill becomes law, Hawaii would become the first
state to approve use of medical marijuana through the legislative process.

Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug under federal law, making
it illegal for a doctor or caregiver to write a prescription. Doctors
who recommend marijuana face the threat of losing their licenses, or
of not being allowed to take part in Medicare and Medicaid, but the
bill would protect them.

The committees combined elements of two bills -- one submitted by the
Cayetano administration, one crafted by Health Committee Chairman Alex
Santiago -- to allow for patients suffering from debilitating or
life-threatening conditions to seek relief through use of smoked marijuana.

The bill would allow patients with a recommendation from one doctor to
keep a supply of marijuana for their personal use as medicine. It
would allow people to grow the plants themselves, or to purchase pot
from others. Questions remained about the type of distribution system
that would be used, or the licensing that would be needed.

Questions about whether patients would have to register with the
state, or carry identification cards, were put to the side, and likely
will be considered by the Judiciary Committee.

Santiago, D-Waialua-Kahuku, said he only wanted to focus on the health
aspects of the bills.

He thinks the bill won't become law this year, given the complexities
of the subject.

Santiago expects a more concerted effort by the bill's opponents to
fight the measure on legal grounds if a hearing is held by Judiciary,
but said after holding the bill the past two years, he was moved by
some of the testimony.

The majority of people at Tuesday's hearing spoke in favor of the
bill, including the state Health Department, the Drug Policy Forum of
Hawaii, Life Foundation, and American Civil Liberties Union.

Supporters cited both anecdotal and scientific evidence about people
who smoke marijuana regaining their appetities, feeling less nauseous
and being better able to handle the side efects of prescription drugs.

A state statute enacted in 1977 already allows for legalized use of
medicinal marijuana, as long as the user obtained a lawful
prescription, said Jonathan Adler a pro-marijuana advocate from Puna.

Former University of Hawaii law professor Richard Miller said state
law also provides for a "choice of evils" defense in which someone
charged with using marijuana can claim they had to break the law to
prevent an even more onerous situation from occurring.

"It is entirely possible that medical necessity could be asserted as a
defense to a cannabis possession charge in a proper case," Miller said.

Opponents included the Hawaii County and Honolulu police departments,
Coalition for a Drug Free Hawaii and the Hawaii Medical Association,
which cited a 1997 National Institutes of Health report saying there
wasn't enough scientific evidence to substantiate claims about the
medical effectiveness of smoked marijuana.

"Physicians cannot in good faith recommend a drug therapy without the
clinical evidence to back them up," said the association's Heidi
Yeager Singh. "Until such time as physicians know the risks and
benefits of medical marijuana, we believe this legislation is
dangerous medicine."

Supporters also suggested implementing a trial program for use of
medical marijuana, similar to the two-year testing the state's needle
exchange program went through before it was made permanent.

Opponents also claimed allowing medicinal marijuana will eventually
lead to legalization of marijuana for all people, and possible
increased use of other illegal drugs, a charge called ludicrous by
proponents.

"I don't think this will result in a flood of drugs coming to Hawaii,"
said Paul Groesbeck, executive director of the Life Foundation, which
provides care for people with HIV and AIDS. "That battle has been
long lost."