WILL MEDICAL MARIJUANA BE LEGALIZED IN NEBRASKA?

LINCOLN - The seeds of a discussion about legalizing marijuana for
medical purposes have been planted in Nebraska.

Three members of the State Board of Pharmacy plan to quiz their
colleagues about the controversial topic at the May 22-25 annual
meeting of the National Boards of Pharmacy in Anaheim, Calif.

Board Chairman Rick Zarek, a Gothenburg, Neb., pharmacist, said the
Nebraskans hope to learn more about "the pros and cons" of
legalization and any problems that have arisen in the 14 states that
now allow pot to be used for pain relief, appetite enhancement and
other medical purposes.

"It's probably an issue we're going to have to address in the
future," said Zarek, who said he has no personal opinion on the subject.

State officials declared the issue of legalizing marijuana for
medical purposes dead in the water in March, even after the state
pharmacy board in neighboring Iowa voted unanimously to recommend
that it be permitted in the Hawkeye State.

But in April, members of a group called Nebraska H.E.M.P. (Helping
End Marijuana Prohibition) attended a meeting of the Nebraska Board
of Pharmacy. They plan to return for the board's July meeting.

A Nebraska H.E.M.P. spokeswoman said the group plans an education
program in hopes of launching an initiative-petition drive in 2012 to
get the medical marijuana issue on the state ballot.

"It is one of the safest plants on Earth to use," said Diana Wulf, of
Staplehurst, the spokeswoman.

Wulf said the group considered a petition drive this year but decided
Nebraskans were "uneducated" about the medicinal and industrial uses of hemp.

Pharmacy officials in Montana and Chicago urged caution, however.

"Don't do it, is my simplest advice," said Ronald Klein, executive
director of the Montana Board of Pharmacy.

Montana has seen an explosion in applications to use medicinal
marijuana and an explosion in commercial growers since the Obama
administration announced last year that federal officials would no
longer prosecute medical pot cases.

The number of patients in Montana has more than doubled this year, to
more than 15,000, according to the state's Department of Public
Health and Human Services.

"Caregivers," who can grow up to six marijuana plants at a patient's
request, now number more than 5,000, spawning a commercial growing industry.

The fire-bombings of two businesses in Billings, Mont., made national
news this week. Both times, the term "Not in Our Town" was
spray-painted on the buildings. The Billings City Council was
scheduled to vote Monday night on an ordinance to place a moratorium
on new commerical growers.

Several Montana communities are looking at new controls, as is the
Montana Legislature, which is weighing a proposal to have the board
of pharmacy regulate the industry, legalized by 62 percent of Montana
voters in 2004.

"They are not going to repeal the law," said Klein, a native of David
City, Neb., and a licensed pharmacist. He worked 19 years as an
inspector for the Nebraska Board of Pharmacy.

"In this case, Nebraska would be better off to simply wait and let
other states figure out the problems," he said.

Some doctors, Klein said, now fly into Montana and rent out meeting
rooms in motels. After a quick examination of a crowd of attendees,
they issue permission to obtain marijuana.

The Montana board plans to sue a grow operation, "Cannabis Farmacy,"
over misuse of the term pharmacy.

"If, indeed, it helped people with chronic cancer in their last days,
I wouldn't worry about that," Klein said. "But it's morphed into
something else."

Still, Carmen Catizone, executive director of the Chicago-based
National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, said medical marijuana is
among the top issues facing his members, not only because proposals
have been made in most states to legalize it, but also because there
is so much disagreement about its medical usefulness.

The national pharmacy group held a two-day symposium in December
about medical marijuana. No Nebraska board members attended.

But Catizone said the issue surely will be raised again at the annual
meeting next week, particularly in light of what's happened in places
like Colorado - which has more marijuana outlets than Starbucks
outlets - and in Iowa.

"You kind of expect the Californias and Oregons . . . but when it
hits the heartland like Iowa, that's when it caught people's
attention," he said. "To get legs in Iowa was a big deal."

The Iowa Legislature would still have to vote to legalize medicinal
marijuana. State Sen. Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs, the Senate
majority leader, has said only a narrowly crafted law would likely be
considered there.

In Nebraska, Gov. Dave Heineman has said repeatedly that he opposes
such legalization.

The State Legislature has never seen the introduction of a bill to do
so, although several years ago legislators considered permitting the
growing of hemp for industrial purposes.

But advocates like Wulf are undaunted. She said that groups of 125
and 75, respectively, attended pro-pot rallies recently in Omaha and
Lincoln and that an industrial hemp rally is scheduled next week on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, across the border in South Dakota.

"Our intention is by the first of next year to educate Nebraska," she
said. "Marijuana is more than just getting high."

The three pharmacy board members in Nebraska are attending the
Anaheim annual meeting at a cost of $5,269, which is financed by
licensing fees paid by pharmacists.

Zarek, the board chairman, said that because of state budget
problems, the board has tried to limit itself to one such meeting a year.