SENATE SHELVES MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Issue to Be Revisited in 06 After Study

NASHVILLE - A Senate committee has spurned legislation to authorize
use of marijuana for medical purposes in Tennessee, but the idea will
still be officially studied for consideration next year.

The bill by Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, got three yes votes and three
no votes in the Senate General Welfare Committee. It needed five votes
to pass the panel.

However, Lt. Gov. John Wilder afterwards said he would form a study
committee to report recommendations on the issue in 2006. Rep. Rob
Briley, D-Nashville, House sponsor of the measure, said he would ask
House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh to also name House members to the panel.

Ten states now have "medical marijuana" laws. Tennessee adopted such a
law in 1981, but it was repealed in 1991.

Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, who sponsored the repeal bill in
1991, also voted against Cohen's bill in the General Welfare
Committee. McNally said the former Tennessee law established a board
to review applications for medical use of marijuana, but "nobody ever
came before the board."

Also, McNally said a prescription drug substitute, Marinol, was
developed that provides the active ingredient in marijuana to patients
who need it "without the side effects." A medical marijuana law is
thus unneeded, McNally said.

Cohen, however, said many people - including friends - have found
smoking marijuana the only effective means to control severe pain and
nausea, especially in dealing with the side effects of chemotherapy
treatment for cancer.

"Medical marijuana is compassionate medicine and commonsense
politics," Cohen said.