ONE MAN'S MEDICINAL HERB ANOTHER'S DANGEROUS DRUG

When Mary Jane pays a visit, controversy is her constant companion.
It dogs her like a shadow, an evil twin.

She's a nasty house guest, critics say, and Oregon's medical
marijuana program is remiss in extending her an invitation.

When her leaves are dried and burned, they burden the body with more
carcinogens than tobacco, they say. Her beguiling smoke impairs the
memory, dulls the mind, destroys the powers of concentration, focus,
purpose, ambition and motivation, they say.

She's habituating, they argue. And she invites use of more potent and
addictive drugs - true narcotics like coke, crack and meth, they maintain.

But the green, leafy plant has plenty of defenders.

They say it eases pain, nausea, tension, relieves stress and improves
appetite. It provides an effective counter to chemotherapy among the
cancer-ridden, and without some of the dangerous side-effects of narcotics.

It provides a two-martini lunch with less short- and long-term harm
than the two martinis, they argue. Alcohol is actually much more
damaging and addictive, they maintain.

The drug goes by a wide variety of names, which have waxed and waned
over the years. They include marijuana, cannabis, reefer, ganja,
weed, pot, Mary Jane and hippie lettuce.

In recent years, some growers have cultivated super varieties in
elaborate facilities featuring the top techniques and equipment known
to science. And, like rose growers, they have taken to branding the
results to distinguish them in the marketplace.

Examples known to local law enforcement include sticky icky,
blueberry, supadank and juicy fruit. It's as it their plants were
their pets, said Yamhill County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Ray, who heads
the Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team.

The federal government strictly forbids its production and
distribution, as do all 50 states to one extent or another.

However, the Internet abounds with sites dedicated to its cultivation
and consumption.

You can readily learn how to grow it, process it, store it, smoke it
or even bake it. You can even learn how to beat tests designed to
detect it, if you believe the claims.

On Craigslist, you can find people trying to buy or sell it. You can
even find people offering sex in exchange for it, if you find that a
bigger lure than cash.

Groups like NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, sees nothing amiss in Mary Jane's pervasive if
clandestine presence.

Plenty of other people do, starting with law enforcement leaders like
Sheriff Jack Crabtree and District Attorney Brad Berry. They view
Oregon's medical marijuana program nothing more than a cynical cover
for an insidious drug culture.

So she isn't likely to shed her double any time soon.