STATE REP. INTRODUCES MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

TOPEKA - On Thursday, a Wichita lawmaker introduced a bill that would
create state-registered "compassionate care centers" allowing for people
suffering from chronic illness who have a doctor's prescription to receive
medical marijuana.

State Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, brought up the bill to legalize
marijuana for people with prescriptions.

"Mine is kind of personal," Finney said. "I am a lupus patient and I have
been through the treatment and I have met a lot of people with chronic
conditions. One of the reasons I ran was because I wanted to be an
advocate for those
people."

According to The Associated Press, Rep. Scott Schwab, a Republican from
Olathe, opposes the measure saying: "It has no benefit for pain
management. All it does is make you crave another bag of chips."

Kansas is the 14th state to introduce similar measures. The Maryland
Legislature is currently looking into the issue as well.

"We are very pleased," said Kurt Gardinier, director of communications for
the Marijuana Policy Project. "We are happy that a Midwestern state has
taken the lead to proposed a measure to help the chronically ill
patients."

The bill comes during the same week that lawmakers voted to make Kansas
the first state to outlaw a synthetic form of pot, known as K2.

However, Finney said that there has been a lot of support for her measure
since the news got out Thursday morning.

"To be quite honest, my e-mail has been flooded with people supporting the
legislation," Finney said. "There have been quite a few legislators
support it, but they can't publicly support it. But, sometimes making the
hard decisions is not always popular and I think Kansas should be able to
debate it openly."

Gardinier said that the bill was more about patients being able to access
treatment needed for chronic illnesses than just legalizing marijuana.

"Patients throughout the country should have access to that medicine
without the fear of being thrown in jail for having it," Gardinier said.

He also praised Finney for her introduction of the bill as well as saying
that lawmakers should realize that studies show 80 percent of Americans
are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana.

"She realized that this is an issue that is overwhelmingly supported by
Americans," Gardinier said. "It is not going to hurt lawmakers politically
and once they realize constituents support it, they will come around."

"It is always easy to make something illegal," Finney said. "But, there
are some people that have been secretly using marijuana because it helps
with their pain."

There has been no hearing scheduled for Finney's bill.