KOHL FLIES SOLO IN PUSH FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

OLYMPIA -- Letting patients with serious medical conditions smoke marijuana
is an idea State Sen. Jeanne Kohl, D-Queen Anne, doesn't find half-baked.
Kohl, who also is a University of Washington lecturer in sociology and
women studies, is sponsoring a bill that would legalize marijuana for
medical purposes.

"I think it's a travesty that gravely ill patients are criminals if they
use marijuana," Kohl said."A large proportion of people in society have a
friend, relative or acquaintance who has suffered a grave illness ... why
should [he] be classified as a criminal?"

Senate Bill 6271, the Washington State Medical Marijuana Act, would give
patients and doctors a legal defense for manufacturing, possessing or
delivering marijuana -- as long as the patient has a serious medical
condition. The bill would limit possession of marijuana to no more than two
ounces, and require patients to obtain written documentation from a
physician authorizing use.

The prospects of SB6271 in Olympia are, well, hazy. The chair of the Health
and Long-term Care Committee, Sen. Alex Deccio (R-Yakama), said he "was not
even thinking" about moving the bill this legislative session. "I don't
think it would ever get out of the Rules Committee," Deccio said.

Nonetheless, Deccio convened a hearing on the bill Jan. 20 to discuss the
medicinal effects of marijuana, and Kohl hopes that, by drafting and
revising the proposal through the legislative process, a politically viable
bill can be created that can either be passed in future sessions or used as
a model for a state initiative.

The political viability of using marijuana for medical purposes is unclear.
A 1996 poll of 400 state voters found that 78 percent favored making
marijuana legally available if prescribed by a doctor. But in November
1997, voters overwhelmingly rejected initiative 685, a bill that would have
legalized mnrijuana, heroin and LSD for medical uses, as well as
decriminalize nonviolent drug offenses.

No legislators have signed on as co-sponsors for Kohl's bill, generally a
sign of limited support. And Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a Democrat like Kohl, is
firmly opposed to Kohl's legislation as it currently is written.

"The bill has a couple glaring problems," Owen said. "You can't have
self-growing of marijuana, just like you don't have people growing their
own cocaine. And anything [that is passed] should be based on legitimate
research efforts."

Owen says he is not opposed to continuing research efforts to determine a
method of providing marijuana to gravely ill patients, but that safeguards
are necessary.

"This is not Puritan, self-righteous Brad waving the flag for the Christian
Coalition." Owen said. "We are not shooting from the hip--we are
identifying the things that have potential [to help patients] but need more
research.

"The research efforts could be handled by the UW, Washington State
University or both." Owen said. "If we used the UW, to use an example, we
could grow and distribute there.

"Isn't that what we want -- to provide that opportunity for relief?"

Kohl, however, says research efforts aren't enough, and she questions
whether the UW or any other state institution could provide marijuana legally.

"I support research," Kohl said, "but the federal government hasn't allowed
it to be done. It's a Catch-22 situation.

"If we did [distribute] through the Institute of Health or the UW, it's
very likely the state would be criminally liable," Kohl said.

Politicians aren't the only group divided over the issue of medical
marijuana. Scientists and doctors disagree over the medical effectiveness
and necessity of smoking marijuana, since the active ingredient, THC,
already is legally available in pill form (usually referred to as Marinol
or Roxane) And because of the federal government's reluctance to pay for
marijuana studies, there is a shortage of controlled studies providing hard
scientific data.

On the pro-smoke side is the American Public Health Association and the
editors of the New England Journal of Medicine. They cite the effectiveness
of marijuana in lowering internal eye pressure associated with glaucoma,
reducing the suffering of patients with AIDS and cancer, and other effects
relieving muscle spasms and chronic pain. The supporters also note that,
unlike a pill, smoking marijuana allows the patient to control the dosage
and the duration of the effects.

Additionally, patients suffering from extreme nausea find it difficult to
ingest the pill, limiting its application.

Dr. Sandra Counts of the UW testified Jan. 20 before the Health and
Long-term Care Committee in support of legalizing marijuana for medical use.

"We do a disservice when we say we can't distinguish between using drugs
for pain ... and using them to get high," Counts said. "We need to make
this drug available now to the people who need it."

The American Cancer Society, the American Glaucoma Association and the
National Sclerosis Society, however, all see little reason to "legalize
it." They are concerned with the effects marijuana smoking has on the brain
and, more importantly, the lungs: Studies have found mari]uana to contain
50 percent to 70 percent more carcinogens than tobacco. Because of these
and possibly other unknown effects, and also because of social concerns
surrounding legalization, these groups endorse Marinol as an alternative to
toking up.

A study completed in 1997 at Washington State University, researching the
cost of supplying marijuana for medicinal purposes, supports the
anti-legalization position. The report found "no compelling reason" to
smoke marijuana when the synthetic form is readily available, and UW
researchers who reviewed the study agreed.

"There should be no major differences in effect between synthetic THC
versus the THC present in marijuana." said Sidney Nelson, dean of the UW
School of Pharmacy.

Kohl sponsored the bill appropriating money for the WSU study, and she
remains highly critical of its findings, describing it as methodologically
flawed. She pointed to her friend, a Bainbridge Island resident who is
unable to ingest the THC pill but can find relief through smoking marijuana.

A 1990 survey of Washington State oncologists -- specialists in tumors --
found that 48 percent had suggested patients smoke marijuana to relieve
suffering induced by chemotherapy. An exhaustive survey of the medical
evidence conducted by the Drug Enforcement Agency in 1988 concluded that
"it would be unreasonable, arbitraty and capricious" for the agency to
continue to prohibit medical use of marijuana, a conclusion that was
ignored by the agency. And numerous anecdotal stories attest to the healing
power of inhaled marijuana.

As one might expect, political questions surrounding medical marijuana
arrest as important as medical questions. Owen, who was zealous in his
opposition to initiative 685, is concerned that some organizations, such as
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, are using
medical marijuana as a stepping stone to complete legalization.

"Supporters of legalization are using the pain and suffering of others to
further their efforts," Owen said. "Marijuana is not a harmless drug."

But for now, both supporters and opponents of medical marijuana
legalization will have to wait for further research. The UW received
financing--through the same legislation that paid for the WSU study--to
conduct a controlled study of the medical effects of marijuana. That study
has been delayed because the UW is still waiting for federal approval.