MEASURE 8 VOTE YES FOR MEDICAL REFORM

If Ballot Measure 8 passes, as expected, then very sick or dying patients
and conscientious physicians will be well-served by voters. Measure 8
allows for marijuana to be used as medicine in controlled circumstances and
with a doctor's approval.

Medical marijuana initiatives are on the November ballot in five states,
including Alaska, and in the nation's capital. In 24 states, sick people
already can smoke marijuana under medical-necessity laws that allow such
use for people with desperate needs.

If adopted, Alaska's law would make possession legal for people with
specific conditions like cancer or AIDS, and whose debilitating symptoms
include chemotherapy-related nausea or muscle spasms.

As Ileen Self, who is a member of the Alaska Nurses Association, says of
Measure 8, "The bottom line is, it doesn't make the buying or selling of
marijuana legal. But what it means is that people who have terminal (or
chronic) illnesses will not be arrested and prosecuted for possession of
marijuana." Smoking marijuana for non-medical uses will remain illegal.

While federal law says that possession of any amount of marijuana is
illegal, 8 supporters say they're forging ahead with this ballot effort to
legalize medical marijuana at the state level for two reasons. First, it's
the humane and practical solution for patients with no other recourse, and
second, they hope that overwhelming state support will lead Congress to
adopt a federal solution.

Right now, marijuana is federally classified with drugs like heroine or LSD
that, unlike marijuana, have no redeeming medical value. Thus, doctors
can't legally prescribe it, nor can more research on the benefits and
drawbacks of medical-marijuana usage go forward as it should.

If Measure 8 passes, says initiative co-sponsor Jim Kentch, sick people
with a doctor's authorization will be permitted to grow their own
marijuana. While it makes better sense for the federal government to work
out uniform standards for how people can legally acquire the drug, this
intermediate step will have to do for now.

The concern here with the grow-your-own approach is that quality control is
lacking. When people don't know about a drug's potency, for example, they
are unsure about dosages. Given potential problems like this, the
Legislature ought not be reluctant to revisit Measure 8 if it passes.
(State law also allows the Legislature to amend voter-sponsored laws at any
time and repeal them after two years.)

Legalization will help people like Kevin Sampson, an Anchorage resident who
has AIDS. About 18 months ago, he became very sick and began wasting away.
Mr. Sampson was prescribed Marinol, pills with the active ingredients found
in marijuana, but he usually couldn't keep even one down. When he did, he
recounted recently, it took two hours to kick in and the effects lasted for
hours longer than needed.

Mr. Sampson now smokes daily a small amount of marijuana that he obtains on
his own. "I attribute smoking marijuana to the fact that I'm even alive
today. ... Nothing else seemed to work. Just the sight of food, or the
smell of food, makes me extremely nauseous," he said.

The added benefit of the plant form, for Mr. Sampson at least, is
financial. Marinol pills cost about $7 each, or 200 pills for $1,500. "For
the cost of three pills, I can get enough (plant) marijuana to get me
through a month or two," he says.

Some critics of Measure 8 say that sick people have other, legal drug
alternatives and don't need to resort to marijuana. Nurse Self of the
Alaska Nurses Association, which has endorsed Ballot Measure 8, disagrees.

"Our position as nurses is that we listen to what the patients tell us,"
she says. "And patients tell us this works, at least for some people. And
to me, it's not a question of, 'Well, there's other drugs available that
work for 60 percent (of the people who try them).' If there's something
else available that works for the other 40 percent, why not use it?"

If Measure 8 passes, then voters will have moved the state in the right
direction by allowing people to use marijuana for medical reasons without
being treated as criminals.

On Nov. 3, vote yes on 8.

Checked-by: Richard Lake