2 BILLS WOULD LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Laws Would Be More Stringent Than Other States', Morhaim Says

Hoping to make Maryland the 15th state in the nation to legalize
medical marijuana, legislators introduced a pair of bills Tuesday in
the General Assembly that would let doctors approve access to
marijuana for their patients and sanction dispensaries, and even
pharmacies, to distribute the drug.

The legislation would allow the use of marijuana by patients who have
a "debilitating medical condition," such as seizures, severe chronic
pain or severe nausea as a result of cancer treatment. They would have
to register with the state and obtain marijuana from state-licensed
dispensaries and pharmacies that might be interested in supplying it.

"The overarching goal is to make medical marijuana available, as would
be any other serious drug to help patients, with the same protections
and judicious use," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Democrat from Baltimore
County and an internist and emergency medical physician, who sponsored
the legislation in the House of Delegates. Sen. David Brinkley, a
Republican from Frederick, is the bill's sponsor in the Senate.

Patients would need approval from doctors with whom they have a
long-standing relationship and would not be permitted to grow
marijuana on their own.

Morhaim said those two elements make Maryland's measure more stringent
than laws passed recently in other states, which allow people to grow
their own pot and have come under pressure from critics who say
doctors permit use of the drug too easily.

Maryland is the latest state to try to increase access to marijuana
following the Obama administration's loosening of federal policy on
marijuana enforcement last year.

The measure builds on a little-known 2003 Maryland law that allows
defendants charged with marijuana possession leniency if they can
prove medical necessity.

That law, however, does medical patients a disservice, said Sen. Jamie
B. Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat, during a news conference
Tuesday attended by supporters of the legislation, including two
people who said they used the drug to cope with their illnesses.

"We are implicitly inviting people who are sick to go out and find
illegal drug dealers to procure what for them is medicine," he said.
"That is not acceptable in a civilized society."

Debby Miran, 55, of Towson said she has struggled for years with
leukemia, and smoking marijuana helped her cope for four months after
a bone-marrow transplant. After the transplant, she lost her ability
to taste, suffered severe nausea and at one point weighed less than
100 pounds. Marijuana was the only thing that worked, she said.

"My goal was not to get high, but rather to stimulate my appetite,"
she said. "There are many Marylanders suffering a variety of
illnesses. I know; I've been there. We should make medical marijuana
available to them."