JOINT STUDY COMMITTEE POSSIBLE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROPOSAL

NASHVILLE -- A state Senate committee has deferred action on a bill to
legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, opting to look more closely
at the issue over the summer.

Following the decision by the General Welfare, Health and Human
Services Committee, Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, quipped that perhaps
the House would follow suit and members could have a "joint committee,
no pun intended."

Bad jokes aside, the matter does deserve a closer look.

There's mounting evidence that marijuana can be used in moderation to
ease chronic pain and lessen the suffering of terminally ill patients.
Numerous organizations, including the AIDS Action Council, American
Academy of Family Physicians, American Public Health Association,
American Academy of HIV Medicine, American Nurses Association,
Lymphoma Foundation of America and the National Association of People
With AIDS, have endorsed medical access to marijuana.

After all, isn't easing pain and suffering what compassionate
conservatism is about? =09

Don Murphy thinks so. He's the executive director of Republicans for
Compassionate Access, another group that is trying to educate the
public about the need for medical marijuana laws. He's also a
self-described recovering legislator, having served eight years in the
Maryland House of Representatives.

While in public office, Murphy successfully passed that state's
medical marijuana alternative defense law. He says it's consistent
with the conservative, Republican laissez faire ideology of compassion
and less intrusive government.

One concern with regard to decriminalizing marijuana for medicinal
purposes is that drug users will suddenly develop "chronic illnesses"
that just might require herbal treatment. Murphy says that hasn't been
the case in Maryland.

For starters, he says the state trusts doctors to act as a gateway to
abuse of the law, since patients must have a written prescription to
use marijuana as a treatment. Additionally, people who are caught
trying to use an illness as a loophole to smoke pot are punished more
severely than recreational users who get busted for possession.

Even in states where medical marijuana use is legal, getting the drug
as prescribed isn't as simple as a trip to the local Walgreens or CVS.
Since the federal government doesn't recognize marijuana as a
medicine, patients are allowed either to grow their own in small
quantities or possess about an ounce that they obtain from a caregiver
or on the street.

Rick Steinberg of Columbia is watching the developments on Tennessee's
Medical Marijuana Act closely. His leg was crushed in an automobile
accident in 1977, and he's used marijuana for pain relief since. He
says it works better and has fewer side effects than the high-powered,
highly addictive narcotic drugs he was prescribed for pain.

Medicating with marijuana has caused numerous other problems for
Steinberg. In 1983, he was attending Middle Tennessee State University
and running for student government president when he was arrested for
possession of marijuana. He spent nearly a year in prison, his
marriage fell apart and he was expelled from school.

Steinberg has continued to use marijuana to treat his pain. Last
December, he was pulled over by a police officer in Spring Hill for a
seat belt violation. According to Steinberg, the cop spotted a quarter
ounce of pot in his car and asked why he was using it. Long story
short, he went to jail and is now back on methadone because his
probation prohibits marijuana use.

Cohen says he gets letters, telephone calls and e-mails from people
like Steinberg every day. With state and local governments perennially
facing difficult budget choices, decriminalizing marijuana for
medicinal reasons deserves a serious and thoughtful look.

Pot could potentially replace high-dollar pain medications, which
would mean major cost savings to programs like TennCare and Medicare.
Gov. Phil Bredesen has said repeatedly that pharmacy costs are the
biggest line item in the TennCare budget. If properly regulated,
medical marijuana could reduce that significantly.

It could also lessen jail overcrowding and cut court and incarceration
costs by keeping people like Rick Steinberg out of the judicial system.

Perhaps most importantly, medical marijuana could vastly improve the
quality of life for hundreds of chronic pain sufferers and their
families. For that reason alone, medical marijuana deserves a serious
look.

Mary Perren is the Tennessee Correspondent for Metro Source, a
division of Westwood One Communications.