WISCONSIN GROUPS PUSH AHEAD TO LEGALIZE PRESCRIBED WEED

At a prayer vigil on the steps of the state Capitol late last month,
protesters -- including a former U.S. Marine and Iraq war veteran --
asked legislators to act on a medical marijuana bill that has stalled
in committee.

Gov. Jim Doyle has said that if it passes, he would sign the bill.
But one of the organizers of the protest, Gary Storck, is not too
optimistic for this legislative session.

"(Legislators) just got so used to saying 'no' that they won't even
consider it," said Storck, a Madison resident who uses marijuana to
cope with glaucoma and chronic pain.

Storck heads the Wisconsin chapter of the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws and serves as a spokesman for Is My
Medicine Legal Yet?, which promotes medical cannabis. He has been an
advocate for medical marijuana for years. But today, as California
prepares to vote on a ballot initiative that would broadly legalize
possession and sale of marijuana, he said he believes society is
moving in the direction of fewer restrictions on marijuana.

"It's really a matter of quality of life, and a life with dignity,"
Storck said of permitting medical marijuana.

There are 14 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have
legalized medical marijuana. South Dakota will also vote on medical
marijuana in November. The Wisconsin legislation was introduced by
Democrats Rep. Mark Pocan of Madison in the Assembly and Sen. Jon
Erpenbach of Janesville in the Senate.

Sen. Russ Decker, D-Weston, who is state Senate Majority Leader, told
The Associated Press last fall that the Senate bill needed work.

The Wisconsin Medical Society has opposed the measure. Dr. Michael
Miller, a Madison physician who is also the president of the American
Society of Addiction Medicine, testified before the state Senate
Health Committee in December.

"THC (marijuana's active ingredient) is a dangerous drug," Miller
told the committee. "THC is addictive. There's no debate about this,
no controversy -- no controversy within the fields of medicine and science."

Miller also said marijuana's effectiveness as a medical treatment
tool is "limited."

"It can work for minor pain. But there are many safe and effective
alternatives for minor pain," he said.

The Wisconsin Medical Society's policy is to support research on
cannabinoids. It opposes "smoking as a delivery device for THC," and
in testimony Miller expressed strong skepticism about having doctors
prescribe the drug and called medicinal marijuana "wrong for Wisconsin."

The measure is also opposed by the significant sectors of law
enforcement, including the Wisconsin Narcotics Officers Association.

"The parade of people with real medical concerns at the Madison
hearing (on the issue) was sad, because those backing this effort are
using them to reach their goal of expanded legal marijuana use," said
Charles Wood, a Waukesha police officer who is vice president of the
association, in a statement released last December.

That's an unfair charge, said Storck. His group advocates medicinal
marijuana to ease the suffering of medical patients. He said they are
"on the front line" and deserve protection from being charged with
crimes for possessing the drug.

But Storck and other advocates of medical marijuana do also advocate
reform of other laws prohibiting marijuana sales and possession.

"For a Libertarian, is it a sneaky way to legalize marijuana? Well,
really, we don't care," said Jim Maas of Rothschild, who is the the
vice chairman of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin. "We think people
should control their own bodies."

But Maas also called medical marijuana "an issue of compassion" for
people who are in pain.

Nationally, polls indicate there is broad public support for
legalizing medical marijuana, though it drops off sharply when the
question is generalized legalization. According to a poll conducted
late last month and released April 1 by the Pew Research Center for
the People & the Press, 73 percent of Americans favor having their
state allow marijuana to be sold and used if prescribed by a doctor.
Twenty-three percent of respondents opposed medical marijuana, and 4
percent did not know their position.

Meanwhile, 41 percent of respondents to a separate Pew Research
Center poll favored overall legalization of the drug, while 52
percent did not. In the same poll in 2008, 35 percent favored
legalization and 57 percent opposed it. In 2000, that number was 16
percent in favor and 81 percent opposed.

For activists like Storck, this could mean that Wisconsin and other
states are on the cusp of changing the laws. But he said there are
also reasons to doubt that things will change any time soon,
regardless of what happens in California.

"A friend of mine was over the other day," Storck said. "I've known
him since first grade, and we're both going to be 55 this year. He
was arrested 30 years ago (for marijuana possession) and the police
told him, 'You know, it's going to be legal in a couple of years.'"