DOZENS RALLY ON PUBLIC SQUARE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

WILKES-BARRE - Kenny Brown understands the issue of legalizing
medical marijuana might be a non-starter in Pennsylvania, but he
spent Friday trying to change a few minds.

Along with 70 supporters, the 21-year-old spent the afternoon
rallying on Public Square to share stories, information and a
petition for sanctioning the drug for medicinal use. While supporters
understood residents' hesitation to the idea, they said the
movement's goal isn't solely to legalize the substance outright and
is grounded in giving patients another treatment option.

"This is a compassionate movement," Brown said. "I don't need
marijuana for medical use, but I don't think it should be illegal
because of that. Just because I don't benefit doesn't mean my friend
who may have HIV or cancer may not be helped."

The fledgling chapter of the Cannabis Defense Movement, of which
Brown is a member, tried to take advantage of Public Square's
prominent location in downtown Wilkes-Barre to aim its message at
Wilkes University and King's College students along with residents
during breaks in the work day, Brown said. By Friday afternoon, the
group had collected 250 signatures supporting medical marijuana.

Brown touted the benefits of marijuana not as competing treatment
with traditional medication but as a means to ease nausea and
vomiting associated with chemotherapy, stimulate hunger in AIDS
patients and as a general pain reliever for conditions such as
chronic arthritis. He said potentially discovering other benefits
through medical research are blunted by the drug's illegal status.

In recent years, 14 states have approved medical marijuana in some
form, most prominently California and recently Colorado, according to
the National Organization for Reforming Marijuana Laws. Yet, there
have been controversies associated with those moves.

In California, whose voters approved medical marijuana in 1996, local
governments are grappling with how to regulate and monitor
dispensaries and discern whether users have valid identification to
make purchases. On top of that, there have been issues in Humboldt
County and other counties with covert and illegal growing operations
setting up shop in state parks and other rural areas, sometimes
draining local creeks of water to grow plants.

Adam Szomski, 21, said legalizing medical marijuana and directing
money and resources used for drug enforcement would help crack down
those who abuse the system. Meanwhile, he said if the medical
marijuana were treated as a normal crop, it would be an incentive for
farmers to preserve their land.

"I think with the way politics have been changing, it's time for a
more rationale debate rather than outright stigmatizing the subject,"
Szomski said.

Brown sees Pennsylvania as a place where the tenor of the debate is
changing, with large chapters of NORML flourishing in urban areas
such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh balanced with conservative
attitudes in western parts of the state.

"Even medical marijuana is something can breach party lines," he
said. "A patient isn't just a liberal or a conservative. A patient is
a patient."