UP IN SMOKE

The Truth Is Medical Marijuana Is a Dead Issue in Ohio. But a Band of
Dedicated Supporters - Including Two Legislators - Refuse to Give Up
on the Idea.

Brandy Zink, who grew up in Westerville, says she was 12 years old
when she took a drag off her first joint at, of all places, a church
camp. She liked it. So she's kept smoking the stuff, pretty steadily,
since she was 14. But it wasn't all about getting high (although she
acknowledges that was part of the appeal when she was young). It's
also because it helps combat the effects of her epilepsy, which she's
struggled with since birth. Over the years, she's found that it has
eased muscle pain, reduced stuttering and prevented seizures. "I
notice that when I have access to cannabis, I don't have seizures,
but when I don't, I do," she says. It's been so effective, she's
ditched her other medicine.

She used to obtain marijuana through the black market and people she
calls compassionate caregivers. Zink knew, however, that using pot in
Ohio made her a criminal. "Can you imagine living with a debilitating
medical condition and then on top of it, being worried about being
arrested?" she says.

After years of choosing between being in pain or fearing that she'd
get caught using marijuana to alleviate the discomfort, Zink, 33,
decided to leave her Ohio home. She now lives and works in Michigan,
where she possesses a card that allows her to smoke dope legally.

Democratic state Rep. Kenny Yuko says Zink is not the only one who's
moving out of Ohio to go to Michigan and the 13 other states (plus
the District of Columbia) where medical marijuana is legal. Yuko, who
represents a district near Cleveland, says it's unfair that Ohioans
are leaving their families just so they can legally use cannabis for
their medical conditions. He's sponsoring a bill that would make
medical marijuana legal, allowing Ohioans to register with the state
and get a prescription from a doctor. In return, they could possess
and use small amounts of marijuana obtained with a prescription from
a state-approved dispensary.

Yuko himself has multiple sclerosis, but he says he's never smoked
cannabis so he doesn't know if it would help his condition. But he
says he's hearing heartbreaking stories from senior citizens smoking
marijuana to relieve pain when prescription drugs fail. And Yuko is
convinced legally allowing people to smoke marijuana for medical
purposes is the right thing to do.

Fellow Democratic state Rep. Bob Hagan, who has sponsored bills
similar to Yuko's throughout the past decade, also is convinced, But
Hagan, who represents Youngstown, is one of the few lawmakers who
supports Yuko's bill. Gov. Ted Strikland opposes it, as do the
majority of legislators on both sides of the aisle. Hagan says he
thinks the opposition to the bill is based in politics. "Some of my
more conservative colleagues in the legislature think it, in their
area, would not sell," Hagan explains. He says those lawmakers are
afraid it would come back to bite them in the next election.

But recent polls show those reluctant lawmakers might be wrong if
they think voters oppose the idea. The Ohio Poll, conducted in May
2009 found that 73 percent of Ohioans favor (either strongly or
somewhat strongly) allowing Ohio doctors to prescribe medical
marijuana. The bigger source of concern, Hagan says, is not
necessarily the voters themselves, but campaign contributions. Hagan
explains pharmaceutical companies consistently have opposed his
medical marijuana bills, noting employees of those big businesses
give a lot of money to politicians. Lawmakers might fear losing those
contributions or, even worse, find themselves target of an
independent campaign sponsored by drug companies who oppose medical marijuana.

Groups that have fought against drug abuse historically also are
speaking out against Yuko's bill. Patricia Harmon, the executive
director of the Drug Free Action Alliance, says allowing medical
marijuana in Ohio would be a bad idea. Harmon's group takes the
position that voter or legislative initiatives, such as the ones that
have been used to allow medical marijuana in other states, do not
meet the scientific standards for approval of medicine. "We believe
any drug, marijuana included, should go through the same testing and
research that other potential medicines go through," she says. That
means following the testing procedures set out by the federal Food
and Drug Administration.

And Harmon cites a long list of other reasons. She points out the
scientific research on the efficacy of marijuana is limited. She also
explains major organizations representing medical professionals, such
as the American Medical Association, do not support using smoked
marijuana as medicine. In addition, since pot plants vary in
strength, medical marijuana patients might not know how much of the
drug they are getting into their system. Then there's the question of
the way the drug is administered. "There needs to be an established
method of administration. "I don't know of another drug that's
smoked," Harmon explains.

A synthetic version of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana,
currently is legal for use in Ohio and prescribed by doctors. Harmon
says her group has no qualms about supporting that drug - marked
under the name Marinol - because it has gone through the testing
process established for prescription drugs.

Mary Jane Borden, a drug policy activist in Westerville, has been
fighting for Ohioans's rights to use marijuana for medical purposes
for more than a decade. She says there's a lot of new research that
shows cannabis, in its natural form, has anti-cancer properties. She
sees medical marijuana as a viable alternative for many Ohioans now
taking powerful, often addictive narcotics. Borden, who suffers from
a rare genetic disease, says that research is quickly evolving and
she's list much of it on her website, drugwarfacts.com.

It's time for Ohio lawmakers "to get past our biases" against
cannabis usage for medical conditions, says Borden, who's not leaving
Ohio for a stat that already allows medicinal marijuana. She says she
wants to stay and fight for the right to use it. "When things change
here in Ohio, I want to be here for it ... for the celebration," she says.

Borden won't be celebrating any time soon. Yuko's bill is expected to
die at the end of the year when the 128th General Assembly comes to a
close. But Yuko and Hagan aren't discouraged. Although they know the
bill is a losing proposition, they realize Ohio faces a tight budget.
Hagan explains if marijuana were legal for medical purposes, the
state could discover a much-needed new revenue stream by taxing it.
Yuko says he's asked for information to determine how much income
medical marijuana would generate, but he's yet to get a good answer.

Both say, however, this fight is not about money. To them, it's about
good options for people in pain. They hear the stories every day from
Ohioans who think they would be helped by using marijuana for their
illnesses. And it's those stories that keep Yuko fighting.

"They tell you not to give up, not to be discouraged, to be
determined, to be a fighter and challenge the system," he says. It's
frankly like going against a brick wall. But it's something I'm not
going to give up on because there are a whole lot of people counting on us."