AFTER RHODE ISLAND'S APPROVAL

Hedlund Favors Allowing Medical Use Of Marijuana; Bill's Passage
Would Make Mass. Latest State To Legalize

BOSTON - A state senator from the South Shore is among those hoping
Massachusetts follows the lead of Rhode Island and Maine by
legalizing marijuana for medical use.

On Tuesday, Rhode Island became the 11th state to legalize medical
marijuana and the first to do so since the June U.S. Supreme Court
ruling that patients who use the drug still may be prosecuted under
federal law. State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, is co-sponsoring
a bill that calls for allowing people to grow and use small amounts
of marijuana for medical reasons. Hedlund said he has heard many
stories from ill people, including a close friend with glaucoma, who
say marijuana eased their pain. €'€'I know it's anecdotal, but I
believe him," Hedlund said. €'€'I'm not in favor of the full-blown
legalization or decriminalization of marijuana, but I think there
should be a dialogue about whether there's a medical benefit to
this." Jim Cook of Quincy said marijuana was the only thing that gave
relief to his brother Alan when he was dying of AIDS in the
mid-1980s. Alan Cook lived in Montreal, where people are allowed to
smoke marijuana to ease the symptoms of disease or the effects of
disease treatments such as chemotherapy. €'€'It is an absolute
no-brainer that it should be available to people with terminal
illness," Jim Cook said. €'€'The prohibitions against it are an
unnecessary intrusion of the government into the private lives of
citizens." Cook is a member of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform
Coalition. €'€'In this state, the politicians are just totally out of
step with the population," said coalition spokesman and Georgetown
attorney Steven Epstein, adding that nonbinding ballot questions
endorsing the use of medicinal marijuana have passed in communities
across the state. €'€'Everywhere it's been on the ballot, it's won."
Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, the Romney administration's point person on
drug policy, had no comment yesterday.

In the past, she has opposed decriminalization of marijuana.

The Rhode Island House voted 59-13 to override a veto by Gov. Don
Carcieri, allowing people with illnesses such as cancer and AIDS to
grow up to 12 marijuana plants indoors or possess up to 2.5 ounces
without being arrested.. The law requires them to register with the
state and get a photo identification card. Federal law prohibits any
use of marijuana, but Maine, Vermont, Alaska, California, Colorado,
Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and now Rhode Island
allow people to grow it for use as medicine.

On June 6, U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who smoke marijuana
because their doctors recommend it can still be prosecuted under
federal drug laws. Federal authorities acknowledged that they were
unlikely to prosecute many medicinal users, and Rhode Island
lawmakers pressed on, passing their medical marijuana bill on June 7.

In November 2004, voters in five South Shore towns - Abington,
Whitman, East Bridgewater, Canton and Stoughton - approved by large
margins a nonbinding ballot question that proposed allowing seriously
ill people to grow and use marijuana, with a doctor's permission.

In the same election, voters in Cohasset, Hingham, Hull and Scituate
passed a nonbinding question that proposed treating the possession of
one ounce or less of marijuana as a civil, rather than crimimal, offense.