MICHIGAN VOTERS TO DECIDE BALLOT QUESTIONS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE,
STEM CELL RESEARCH

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- Andy Heglas watched as terminal cancer,
chemotherapy and radiation treatments assaulted his friend, Steve,
who struggled with nausea, pain and loss of appetite.

The cancer started in his lungs, or maybe his bones -- no one knows
for sure -- but it spread to both those areas and then his liver and
brain before eventually taking his life in April.

He had several prescription drugs for various side effects, but
Heglas said smoking marijuana was often the only way Steve could
control his nausea and pain. Even though Flint voters last year
approved a measure to legalize the drug for health reasons, federal
and state laws still criminalize marijuana use.

"It didn't bring him back, but it made him that much better," said
Heglas, 52, of Flint Township. "If it was legal, I'm sure it would
have been a little easier on him."

Heglas is supporting a statewide proposal to legalize medical
marijuana, one of two ballot initiatives that have battle lines drawn
and emotions running high leading up to the Nov. 4 election.

The second proposal, if approved, would change state law to allow
people to donate embryos left over from fertility treatments to be
used for stem cell research. The embryos would otherwise be thrown
away as medical waste.

Both proposals are hot issues, tangled in arguments of science,
faith, morality and emotion.

Opponents of Proposal 1, the medical marijuana proposal, include many
in the law enforcement community. They say there are too many holes
in the ballot language and are afraid it would open the doors to more
illegal drug use.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said he doesn't object to
marijuana use for health reasons, but he has not seen credible
evidence that shows smoking the drug is beneficial.

"There is some evidence that in pill form it might help someone but
that's not what this ballot initiative is," he said, referring to a
drug called Marinol, which has some of the same ingredients as
marijuana. "I have grave concerns about it."

But supporters, like Heglas, say marijuana helps treat nausea, pain
and other symptoms of hundreds of diseases. They say it's important
to prevent seriously ill patients from going to jail for smoking pot.

Twelve states already have approved medical marijuana use, according
to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"I have trouble understanding why alcohol is legal but marijuana
isn't," Heglas said. "It's new territory for everybody, but it's so important."

Even if the measure does pass it, it will remain a largely symbolic
vote -- much like Flint's was last year -- because anyone using
marijuana could still be prosecuted under federal laws.

For those on both sides of Proposal 2, the issue is about life.

Supporters say the ballot measure could put state researchers at the
forefront of an emerging science that might discover cures for a host
of illnesses. Opponents say the research is unethical because it
involves the use and destruction of human embryos.

Patricia H. Walworth of Mundy Township said she and her husband, who
has multiple sclerosis, are supporting the measure in the hope that
it will lead to a cure of debilitating diseases like MS. She points
out that the proposal language states that the embryos would be
thrown out anyway.

For her, it's also an issue of self-preservation -- her mother and
grandmother both suffered from Alzheimer's disease before they died.

"I don't want to be in the same spot they were in for the last 20
years of their lives," said Walworth, 65. "I feel like my position on
this is pro-life."

But opponents say life begins at conception and the earliest stages
of life should be as equally protected as those walking on Earth.

Judy Climer, president of Flint Right to Life and Black Americans for
Life, said there are many success stories involving adult stem cells,
which should be used instead.

"Everyone started out as an embryo -- you were an embryo, I was an
embryo," she said. "We're all people. Do we not have any respect for life?"