PROSECUTOR AT ODDS WITH MEDICAL MARIJUANA

ANNAPOLIS -- Frederick County's state's attorney is opposing medical
marijuana legislation sponsored by a local state senator.

State's Attorney Charlie Smith testified Thursday evening before the
Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

"I'm not going to stand up here and tell you I want people to suffer
from cancer, or from AIDS or from ALS, or they shouldn't have drugs to
help ease their nausea or help ease their pain," Smith said. "I just
firmly believe that marijuana is not one of those proven drugs and
there are many many more FDA-approved drugs."

He was one of many speakers on a bill that has generated controversy
because it would set up state-licensed farms and state-sanctioned
distribution channels for marijuana.

Sen. David Brinkley, a Frederick County Republican, is the lead Senate
sponsor on the legislation. He is working with Delegate Dan Morhaim, a
Baltimore County Democrat and medical doctor.

Brinkley, a cancer survivor, said the state should not criminalize
people who are ill and, in some cases, dying, for seeking relief.

"I would submit to you that if it was your family member, if it was my
family member, I would go to the end of the earth to help them relieve
their pain and suffering," Brinkley said.

Smith, Frederick County's chief prosecutor, said his concern is that
marijuana has not been proven to be a safe and effective treatment for
pain, nausea or other symptoms that many claim it is.

He is vice president of the Maryland State's Attorney Association and
spoke for the organization as well as himself.

"Without the doctors saying that it has efficacy and that
well-controlled studies have been performed, we're not willing to say
we think it should be legalized," he said.

Smith also criticized the bill for allowing too many conditions to be
treated with marijuana. The bill allows marijuana use for chronic or
debilitating diseases or conditions that produce one or more of the
following: wasting syndrome; severe chronic pain; severe nausea;
seizures; severe and persistent muscle spasms; or any other condition
that is severe and resistant to conventional medicine.

Smith shared a personal story of his sister who became addicted to
marijuana and later heroin, ultimately dying of cancer after suffering
from hepatitis and other illnesses.

Smith said he spoke with Frederick Police Department's Drug
Enforcement Unit and the drug narcotics task force of the Maryland
State Police and Frederick County Sheriff's Office.

"They believe it's going to be a nightmare in terms of law enforcement
and that's going to make it very, very difficult from a law
enforcement standpoint," he said.

But Brinkley presented his bill as a comprehensive law that improves
upon medical marijuana systems in other states. He thinks police would
still be able to enforce the law for cases other than medicinal use.

"Charlie is a very good prosecutor in Frederick," Brinkley said. "We
disagree on that and I think we disagree on the underlying premise."

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee told Brinkley they want to
make sure Maryland's law would be better than those in other states.

"I don't want to be like California," said Sen. Jim Brochin, a
Baltimore County Democrat. "Where we try to do something good and
become the laughingstock of the nation."

Brinkley said his bill had tighter standards than California's, in
part because it requires a bona fide doctor-patient relationship for
it to be prescribed, and because the legislation does not allow
grow-your-own.

"We can learn from California," Brinkley said. "We can learn from some
of the mistakes that were made in other jurisdictions."