DEBATE OVER MARIJUANA RAGES ON

Reefer Madness! Is marijuana a medical benefit or just a high time for
stoners?

And should California – where cannabis is legal for medical use and
where dispensaries pay $100 million in taxes annually – legalize
marijuana for everyone's use?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's looking for tax money under every
rock and tree trunk, says "I think it's time for debate. I think all
of those ideas of creating extra revenues – I'm always for an open
debate."

Anna Boyce says the governor is blowing smoke. A longtime activist for
the medical use of marijuana, Boyce says she's not a full supporter of
legalizing the herb.

"Besides, what difference would it make in California? Medical
marijuana is not legal nationally and that's where the change has to
be made," she says.

The senior activist – she won the Good Character Award from her
hometown of Mission Viejo in 2009 – sees this as a senior issue.

Marijuana, derived from the buds and leaves of the cannabis plant,
contains more than 400 chemicals, says a report in the magazine "This
Week." One of these chemicals, THC, works its way through the
bloodstream to the brain, producing a relaxing "high."

The herb is used to treat glaucoma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and
high blood pressure, as well as various AIDS symptoms and
chemotherapy.

It can impede short term memory, physical coordination and, like
tobacco, contains carcinogens. Federal law says marijuana must be a
controlled substance.

Despite the federal restrictions, 14 states have voted to legalize use
of marijuana for medicinal purposes, with California the leader in
1996. Today, an estimated 250,000 patients receive cannabis at various
dispensaries – 180 in Los Angeles alone. Certain doctors routinely
authorize marijuana for their patients.

While she's calling for a national bill, Boyce, a registered nurse,
acknowledges it will probably never happen.

"Big pharma will convince people it should not be legalized," she
says. "There's no money in it for them. You can grow it in your back
yard."

Ah, little wonder this is a political potboiler.

State Sen. Mark Leno has introduced a resolution that urges the U.S.
Congress and President Barack Obama's administration to align national
policy with the state laws legalizing the herb.

State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano says legalizing marijuana for general
use in California could add $1 billion to the tax coffers. His bill to
do that comes up next year.

Meanwhile, the seniors keep on smoking in California.

At a recent Laguna Woods rally for medical marijuana supporters, Margo
Bouer, wife of the former mayor, acknowledged she smokes cannabis for
relief. She has multiple sclerosis.

"You can't just go out and buy this stuff," Boyce says. "You have to
get an ID card from the state health department."

Smoking cannabis is less harmful than smoking tobacco or drinking
alcohol, she insists.

"Yet people shut their eyes and their ears. The refuse to investigate
the full range of benefits from this magnificent herb," she says.

"This is not 'reefer madness' and people have to stop thinking that
way."

California justices apparently agree with her. On Thursday, a state
appeals court ruled medical marijuana growers and patients should be
allowed to sue police over illegal raids of their properties.

And one medical marijuana dispenser said earlier in the week he is now
making home deliveries to seniors with ID cards allowing them to use
cannabis. One of the patients likened ordering the herb to "ordering
pizza only better."

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