MEDICAL MARIJUANA STUDY ADVANCES

NASHVILLE -- The House Health and Human Resources Committee on
Tuesday approved legislation urging the state boards of pharmacy and
medical examiners to study the medical use of marijuana.

The panel also wants state sheriffs and the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation to join the study. Findings would be reported back to
the General Assembly by Feb. 15, 2011.

Committee members approved the bill on a voice vote, allowing it to
move on to the House Finance Committee. It has yet to begin moving in
the Senate.

Proponents credited passage in part to a lobbying effort Monday by
25-year-old Red Bank resident John Donovan, who suffers from
rheumatoid arthritis. Mr. Donovan, who has said he uses marijuana to
relieve pain without inducing nausea, visited Monday with a number of
committee members.

He said he wanted to meet "face to face to let these people know
there are Tennesseans out here who this bill affects in a positive
way and just basically giving a voice to those people."

Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, a registered nurse, voted for the measure.

"I'm hoping as a result of the study ... we will come out with a
worthwhile solution," she said.

Rep. Vince Dean, R-East Ridge, a retired police officer, amended the
bill to include the TBI and sheriffs in the study. He later said his
vote shouldn't be interpreted as being pro or con on medical use of
marijuana, calling it simply "a vote on whether to study it."

The bill started as an attempt to legalize medical use of marijuana,
but it was going nowhere and last week ran into trouble even as the
sponsor, Rep. Jeanne Richardson, D-Memphis, sought to turn it into a study.

Rep. Richardson said Tuesday that, while the study is up to the
agencies, the Pharmacy Board has indicated a willingness to look at
the issue and she believes the Medical Examiners Board and Health
Department will go along with it.