DOCTORS, PATIENTS CURIOUS ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Callers on the line to the Green Cross' Joanna McKee have to feel a little
like Monica Lewinsky on the phone with Linda Tripp.

There's all that clicking.

But while the noise on Tripp's line was a recording device, McKee says the
clicking on hers is call waiting. It was on the increase even before an
initiative was approved Tuesday legalizing the use of marijuana for certain
medical conditions, as over the past month Initiative 692 appeared more
likely to pass.

"We're getting about 10 calls a day," said McKee, director of an agency that
has been quietly delivering marijuana to patients for about six years.
"Normally it's about three a day."

And with marijuana to be legal for ailments such as AIDS, multiple
sclerosis, glaucoma and nausea associated with chemotherapy, a call to Green
Cross may be the first step for many patients.

"Tell them to call me," said McKee. "You can put my phone number in the
paper." (It's 206-762-0630.)

While passage of Initiative 692 authorized use of marijuana by certain
patients and will allow possession of a 60-day supply, it did not tell how
the change will be accomplished.

Possession of the drug still is a federal offense, and growing and selling
are still illegal in the state. King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, who was
one of the principal opponents of the initiative, said his office will abide
by the wishes of the people but still will look for abuses of the law. And
even Rob Killian, the doctor who sponsored the initiative, concedes that
most physicians won't know when to recommend its use.

The shakedown period may last well beyond Dec. 3, which is the day the
election is expected to be certified and marijuana officially blessed for
medical use.

Green Cross has survived in something of a legal tolerance policy in which
the group carefully monitors its growers, and county prosecutors have left
them alone.

It now provides marijuana for about 400 customers. Growers are on contract
to provide marijuana for Green Cross exclusively. McKee said some of her
growers have been charged with offenses such as stealing electricity, but
not for drug charges. She said she always buys their entire supply.

Green Cross will provide potential patients with paperwork they can take to
their doctor. It explains the potential health risks and benefits, along
with a form letter in which a doctor can recommend the use without
committing a crime.

McKee said she expects requests for help to increase, especially from
"people who have been sick for a while but who were afraid of getting in
trouble."

Alternatively, her group also will supply plants for those who want to grow
their own marijuana, as permitted by the initiative.

McKee recommends that. She said it is good for patients to grow plants, even
if they don't produce enough marijuana for their needs. "They get good
benefit just from growing their own plants and taking part in their own
care," she said.

McKee recommends patients just go to the doctor who is most familiar with
them.

But even Killian, who became familiar with marijuana use for AIDS and cancer
patients through work in a hospice, said most doctors don't know much about
how the drug works or when to recommend it.

He said one of his next tasks will be to try to work with doctors on that
issue.

Stu Farber, a Tacoma physician who specializes in the care of patients who
are dying or are in pain, said he always has had a neutral position on
marijuana, seeing it as something that might be sought by patients rather
than recommended by doctors.

"If I thought marijuana would be of some benefit," he said, "I would sit
down and write it out on my prescription pad." But so far, he said,
"Marijuana is kind of a minor blip for me."

Farber said that use of the drug is more of a political question than a
medical one, but that society has made doctors the arbiters of its use.

"I would hope doctors would sit down with the rest of the constituency. It
is a negotiating process and will take some time. Maybe this will make it so
you can get the stuff and do good research."

As early as election night, Killian and Maleng began talking about getting
together in the way Farber suggests.

Killian said he expects to meet with law-enforcement officials and doctors.

"We need to study this and see how to implement it," said Dan Donohoe,
Maleng's spokesman. "We don't have any suggestions right now."

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst