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: Patrick Henry