WEEDING OUT THE ISSUE

As Election Day Nears, Students, Officials Debate Use of Medical Marijuana

By Kelly House, The State News

When Josh Sattler gets the munchies, he views it as a medicinal
property of smoking marijuana, not a fattening side effect of getting
high. The hospitality business junior has Crohn's disease, a chronic
inflammatory ailment of the digestive system that causes ulcers in
the bowels and can lead to drastic weight loss.

"Marijuana helps you eat," he said. "When you have Crohn's disease,
you should be eating a lot of food because your body is not able to
take in the nutrition that it needs."

Sattler said smoking marijuana also eases the "crunching" abdominal
pain associated with Crohn's.

Now a state proposal is on the ballot that would protect individuals
such as Sattler from being arrested for using the drug to alleviate
their symptoms. Sattler said he plans to vote in favor of Proposal 1,
which would legalize marijuana use for medicinal purposes.

The initiative would allow adult patients with a doctor's approval to
possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and grow up to 12 plants for
personal use. The marijuana would have to be kept in a locked area.

Proponents of the initiative say it would offer relief for
individuals suffering from diseases that don't respond to other
medications, whereas opponents say the proposal could have unintended
consequences such as promoting recreational drug use.

Twelve other states, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and
Washington, possess similar laws.

Dianne Byrum, spokeswoman for the Michigan Coalition for
Compassionate Care, the group sponsoring the proposal, said medicinal
marijuana would offer relief to thousands of Michigan residents who
suffer from serious illnesses.

"It gives protection ... from the fear of prosecution in jail for
using medical marijuana," she said. "These are people that have
cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis."

But opponents of the proposal say existing pharmaceuticals, such as
the synthetic Marinol, contain the same therapeutic properties of
marijuana without the negative side effects. The Michigan State
Medical Society is among the proposal's opponents.

"My personal plea would be that if anyone is in pain and not getting
enough attention or satisfaction, to ask their physician about being
referred to a pain specialist," said David Fox, the society's spokesman.

Fox said the society supports further research into marijuana's
effectiveness before clearing it for medical use. The fact that there
are no standardized dosages and the drug is administered through
smoking also are issues, he said.

"We're so opposed to smoking in every other form that it would seem
inconsistent to support smoking marijuana when it has a more harmful
effect than cigarettes," Fox said.

Other arguments against the proposal include the concern that it
could lead to problems for law enforcement if recreational users get
a hold of marijuana that was intended for medical use.

East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said he does not oppose
medicinal marijuana, but he has concerns with allowing patients to
grow their own plants.

"It's going to be hard to enforce," he said. "I think it should be
done like any other prescription drug, where you go to the pharmacy."

Backers of the proposal also would like the drug to be distributed by
pharmacists, but federal law prohibits licensing it as a
pharmaceutical, Byrum said.

Aside from the issue of patients growing the plants, Wibert said the
medicinal marijuana would not affect the way his department deals
with related offenses.

"Unless you have a serious illness, the law wouldn't change," he said.

A September poll by the Lansing-based Michigan Resource Group showed
that 67 percent of respondents supported the initiative.

Byrum said she hopes that support translates into the proposal's
passage Nov. 4. If the proposal does pass, it would be up to each
doctor in the Ingham County Health Department to decide whether to
prescribe marijuana, Assistant Deputy Health Officer Marcus Cheatham said.

"We hire good doctors and we trust their judgment, so if there were
good clinical indications ... they would prescribe it," he said.

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MEDICAL MARIJUANA

* The initiative would allow adult patients with a doctor's approval
to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and grow up to 12 plants for
personal use.

* The marijuana would have to be kept in a locked area.

* Opponents of the proposal have said that existing pharmaceuticals,
such as the synthetic Marinol, contain the same therapeutic
properties of marijuana without the negative side effects.