AILING TIER WOMAN JOINS MEDICAL MARIJUANA EFFORT

Port Dickinson Resident Attends Unveiling Of Binghamton
Billboard

BINGHAMTON -- Rhonda Holmes admitted to some nervousness as she stood
in front of the billboard in a parking lot at Front and Clinton streets.

The 42-year-old Port Dickinson woman said she is breaking the law by
using marijuana to ease the effects of multiple sclerosis, which she
has battled for seven years.

That's something she wants to help change.

Holmes was at the unveiling of a billboard put up by NY Patients
First, a medical marijuana patient advocacy group.

The group is leasing the billboard space from Park Outdoor
Advertising, using a donation from MarijuanaDoctors.com, a Web site
of doctors familiar with the medical marijuana issue, said Adam
Scavone, legislative director with NY Patients First.

"We want to have legislation enacted to get seriously ill patients in
New York legally protected from arrests," Scavone said.

The Binghamton billboard is the first of its kind in the state, but
the group plans to put up more as it raises money, the advocates
said. They acknowledged they are working on a limited budget.

Proponents of medical marijuana want to make New York the 16th state
to legalize medical marijuana for patients with serious, debilitating
or life-threatening illnesses. The Assembly has passed a bill twice
in recent years, but the Senate has not.

On Tuesday, the state Senate Codes Committee reported a medical
marijuana bill out of committee. The same bill is also making its way
through the Assembly committee process. The Senate has also included
the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in its budget
resolution, estimating processing and administrative fees would bring
in about $15 million in the 2010-11 budget.

"This is the farthest legislation has gone in the Senate. We think we
have a good chance of enacting something in the very near future,"
Scavone said.

Jennifer Rog, a director with NY Patients First, said she also uses
marijuana to help her deal with severe food allergies and cramps.

The marijuana stimulates her appetite and relaxes her "so I can eat
like a normal person," she said.

Scavone and other advocates disputed the argument that passage of the
legislation would encourage drug abuse. Similar laws have not led to
abuse in other states, and New York's would be the most restrictive
bill in the country, he said. Patients would have to register with
the state Health Department and obtain the marijuana through licensed
dispensaries.

Failing to make medical marijuana legal is "silly," Holmes said,
noting that marijuana helps with symptoms of her MS.

"I would like people to be able to say to a doctor, I want to try
that (marijuana), and doctors to be able to prescribe it," Holmes
said. "It's a little scary to be here, but the story has to be told."