A MEDICAL MARIJUANA FACE-OFF

Marijuana is the only drug Cathy Jordan says helps her fight Lou
Gehrig's disease. The 59-year-old mother smokes two joints every
night to relieve depression and muscle spasms, and to boost her appetite.

"It's keeping me alive," said Jordan in an interview at her home in
Parrish. "Anti-depressants made me a zombie and other drugs had bad
side effects. The crime is that people like me can't get it legally."

Floridians could vote for the first time next year to allow marijuana
for medical use. A petition drive, started last week by an Orlando
woman whose father has Parkinson's disease, would make the drug legal
for any condition as prescribed by a doctor.

The last time such an organized effort to legalize marijuana occurred
in Florida was 1997, just one year after California became the first
state to legalize medical marijuana. But in Florida the petitioners
fell hundreds of thousands of signatures short of getting to a state
referendum.

This time the movement faces some of the same roadblocks, such as
opposition from law enforcement and a lack of support by the majority
of the medical community.

But the climate has become more favorable in ways that could shift the balance.

A dozen other states have approved medical marijuana since Florida
last tried to get it on the ballot, and four state legislatures are
currently considering proposals.

Federal law, while it has prohibited marijuana since 1937, is also
shifting: Last month, Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal
government would stop raiding marijuana distributors in states where
it is legal.

And Florida's proponents, People United For Medical Marijuana, hope
they can make the argument that legalizing the drug could create tax
revenue and jobs to lift the state economy. Kim Russell, the founder,
suggested $200 million a year could be gained in tax revenue.

In every state where medical marijuana has been on the ballot it has
been successful, with the exception of South Dakota, where it barely
lost with 48 percent of the vote. The challenge in Florida will be
slightly steeper because the state requires a 60 percent majority vote.

Getting the proposal on the ballot remains the biggest concern for
proponents. The state political action group, People United for
Medical Marijuana, needs to collect 676,811 signatures from
registered voters in 10 months.

Jordan and her husband, Bob, collected signatures back in 1997 on
Manatee Avenue and said it was "nearly impossible" to get even 25 a
day, and that many people were scared to sign their names to a
document linking them to marijuana.

Instead of relying on sick people or patient advocates to get the
word out, Russell is focusing on college students and social
networking Web sites such as Facebook -- a tactic that could either
help mobilize a statewide army or provide an easy target for opponents.

One of the main arguments against legalizing medical marijuana is
that the effort is a veiled move to improve access to the drug for
anyone who wants it. Bill Janes, director of Florida's Office of Drug
Control, and the Florida Sheriff's Association have already come out
against it.

"When we increase the availability of marijuana we increase the
availability for young people," Janes said. "What this petition
doesn't address is how the marijuana will be controlled. Will we just
allow random growing of marijuana?"

More than 4,800 people, many of them college students, have joined
the Facebook page in support of the petition, which the Florida
Division of Elections recently approved, and Russell said hundreds of
students at campuses around the state have agreed to pass petitions.
The campaign manager is Joshua Giesegh, a 20-year-old who said he is
taking the year off from University of Central Florida to focus on
marijuana advocacy. He is also a proponent of legalizing the drug for
recreational use.

"I used to be one of those people who believed all the lies about
marijuana that you learn in D.A.R.E," an antidrug program offered in
schools, Giesegh said in a phone interview. "Then I watched my
grandpa die of cancer. He wouldn't eat anything. I don't want anyone
else to suffer like that."

People United For Medical Marijuana is not affiliated with national
or professional fundraising organizations, and Russell said raising
money will be the biggest challenge. She estimates they need up to $5
million for advertising and administrative costs, declining to say
how much has been raised so far.

In the drive for signatures, state government leaders could
potentially pose a threat, as they have generally grown less tolerant
of marijuana. Last year the Legislature voted to strengthen laws
against illegal growers. Janes said the tax revenue estimates by the
petitioners were overblown and assumed use of the drug would become widespread.

Florida's petition leaves it to the Legislature to decide how to
regulate distribution and sale of the drug. While California's
bare-bones law has led to what some critics say is overprescription
of marijuana, more current laws, such as the one that recently passed
in Michigan, have guidelines meant to ensure only the truly ill will
be able to get it.

In California, marijuana is sold in private shops called
dispensaries. In other states patients with prescriptions for
marijuana are required to carry ID cards, and it is only allowed to
be grown by the patient or a designated caregiver.

Medically speaking, studies have shown benefits from marijuana,
particularly for glaucoma and tremors. It has also been shown to
increase appetite and alleviate the nausea caused by cancer treatments.

But the major medical associations have stopped short of endorsing
it. The American Medical Association in November reconfirmed its
decade-old policy that more research was needed. But it did assign a
task force to take a closer look.

Dr. Jameel Audeh, a Sarasota oncologist, said back in 1985 when he
was in training, marijuana was one of the best ways to relieve nausea
in cancer patients. But now there are legal drugs he said work as
well, including a legalized pill containing a synthetic version of
the ingredient found in marijuana, THC. The potential health problems
caused by marijuana, such as lung damage, outweigh the need for it, Audeh said.

"For cancer patients, this would only be needed for a very narrow
group, if anyone, and I'm not sure that justifies making it legal
because of all the other problems it would cause," Audeh said.

A terminally ill cancer patient in Sarasota, who asked not to be
identified because he does not want to be targeted by police,
believes marijuana has kept him alive two years longer than doctors
expected. He does not grow it himself because of the risk of getting caught.

Instead he relies on gifts from friends or dealers who charge up to
$100 a week. Mainly the drug helps with his mood and appetite, he
said. The cancer started in his esophagus and spread to his lungs,
stomach and liver. When smoking marijuana became painful because it
made him cough, a friend made a vaporizer from a heat gun and a plastic bag.

"Cancer is a fight against appetite and keeping weight on," he said
in an interview at his home. "If you can keep the weight on you can
stay alive longer."

To anyone who thinks it should be illegal, he urges compassion. He is
61 and has two children. At just over 5-foot-10, he weighs only 145 pounds.

"It gives me a quality of life I wouldn't have without it.