MAN SEEKS RIGHT TO SMOKE MARIJUANA; LAKELAND MAN WITH AIDS SAYS
SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA ISN'T AS EFFECTIVE AS THE REAL THING. MEDICINAL USE
by RICK ROUSOS The Ledger
Copyright (c) 1997, Lakeland Ledger Publishing Corporation

LAKELAND A Lakeland man who is terminally ill with AIDS
will challenge a state law that forbids him from using
marijuana for medicinal purposes.

David "Mike" Tucker, 42, is prescribed Marinol, a
synthetic marijuana. But he says Marinol is slower and far
less effective at easing AIDSrelated nausea than the real
thing. Tucker was charged with possession of marijuana on
Feb. 6 when police stopped him driving on Lake Parker Drive
with one taillight. He allowed police to search his car,
and they found half a marijuana cigarette under the seat.
Tucker said he'd smoked the cigarette the day before in St.
Petersburg, but not in the car, and forgot he'd left the
remaining half under the seat.

Tuesday in Polk County Court in Lakeland, Tucker pleaded
no contest to the misdemeanor charge. Judge Charlie Brown
found him guilty, fined him a standard $ 223 and revoked
his driver license. Tucker can apply for a hardship
license, Brown said.

Even though he pleaded no contest, Tucker has 30 days to
appeal his conviction, and the Public Defenders Office says
an appeal is certain. It will be based on "the
constitutionality of the statute as it relates to people
with terminal illness," said Assistant Public Defender
Cynthia Sullivan.

The nocontest plea, which is not an admission of guilt,
was entered because Tucker faced the possibility of jail
and the likelihood of probation if he lost at trial,
Sullivan said.

"I don't think jail is the place for Mr. Tucker,"
Sullivan said. "And on probation, he would fail any drug
testing" because of the Marinol. Tucker says the conviction
won't stop him from continuing to smoke marijuana.

"It's the only way I can swallow my medicine," he said.
"I wouldn't smoke if I didn't have to. But if I have to, I
will."

Tucker, an unemployed mechanical designer, said he was
diagnosed with AIDS five years ago, and at one point lost
32 pounds because of the nausea. He said he gained the
weight back because of marijuana and Marinol. But Tucker
said he's too weak to work or do a lot of things that
healthy people do.

Marijuana can be used for legitimate medical
purposes, according to some physicians. The New England
Journal of Medicine has endorsed the notion of medicinal
marijuana use.

Supporters in the medical community say the drug can
combat the severe weight loss experienced by some AIDS
patients, ease the nausea suffered by people with AIDS and
cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and help relieve
internal eye pressure in glaucoma sufferers.

But Florida and most states make no provision for
allowing terminally ill patients to legally smoke
marijuana, or for medicinal use of the drug. In
November, voters in California and Arizona passed
initiatives approving the medicinal use of marijuana.
But those provisions came under fire from the federal
government. Attorney General Janet Reno told doctors that
they still must follow federal rules prohibiting
prescribing marijuana or risk losing their licenses.

The U.S. government announced in January it would spend
$ 1 million to gather scientific evidence on marijuana's
effectiveness as a medical treatment.

Sullivan said Florida should be added to the list of
states, along with California and Arizona, that acknowledge
that marijuana benefits some terminally ill people.

And Tucker agrees.

"I don't think what I'm doing is criminal," he said. "I
don't really have a choice. This is survival."