MARIJUANA LAW STILL IN WORKS

State Sen. Stephen Cohen, D-Memphis, will fight for a medical marijuana law
in Tennessee even while the U.S. Supreme Court debates the
constitutionality of such laws.

Cohen has not yet released the details of his proposal. He said he is still
working out the nuts and bolts of it, and to that end he is looking at
medical marijuana laws already on the books in 11 states.

"We'll see what has worked," Cohen said.

The 12 states that have passed medical marijuana laws have gone about it in
different ways.

California's law, passed in 1996, is the oldest and broadest. It allows
doctors to give oral or written permission to use medical marijuana to
anyone who would benefit from it.

Vermont took a more conservative approach to legalization. The state allows
sufferers of specific diseases - HIV or AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis
- - to use it, and the state created a registry and issues ID cards to keep
track of medical marijuana users.

Maryland's medical marijuana law stopped short of legalization. It makes
medical necessity a mitigating factor in marijuana prosecution and sets the
maximum fine for these patients at $100.

Currently, Cohen envisions a Tennessee law granting doctors the authority
to prescribe marijuana to patients who are terminally ill or in serious pain.

Opponents of the plan say medical marijuana isn't necessary because there
are pain medications already on the market that are just as effective.

"There aren't," Cohen said. The people he has talked to, including people
in the health care industry, have told him that when they and their loved
ones were ill, only marijuana provided then the relief they needed.

Cohen said that even Marinol is less effective than smoked marijuana.
Marinol is a pill that delivers synthetic Tetrahydrocannibinol, the active
ingredient in marijuana.

"Certain people can't hold down the pill," he said.

Swallowing a pill can be difficult for sufferers of nausea, and the effects
of the pill can take several hours to kick in, giving patients ample time
to throw up the pill.

While marijuana's side effects can include delusions and paranoia, the side
effects of narcotic prescription pain medications, like Oxycontin, are
harsher and include severe respiratory distress.

These side effects coupled with the risks of addiction and overdose have
left many patients looking for an alternative.

Whether or not they get that alternative is out of their hands. And it
might be out of Cohen's hands, too. A case before the Supreme Court might
derail state medical marijuana laws before the general assembly puts
Cohen's law to a vote.

On Monday, Nov. 29, the court heard the opening arguments for Raich vs.
Ashcroft.

Angel Raich suffers from several chronic conditions, including an
inoperable brain tumor and near-constant nausea. According to her Web site,
her doctor prescribed dozens of medications until he found one that worked
for her: marijuana.

Raich and another medical marijuana user, Diane Monson, filed the lawsuit
after federal drug enforcement agents raided Monson's house in August 2002.

The court is not weighing the merits of medical marijuana. It is
determining whether state laws that allow medicinal use of marijuana trump
federal anti-drug laws.

Specifically, the court will decide if the federal government has the
authority to regulate marijuana that does not cross state lines.

The crux of the case is where the marijuana came from. Monson and Reich
live and grew their marijuana in California. Randy Barnett, representing
the defendants, argued that since the pot didn't cross state lines, it did
not affect interstate commerce, so it is out of the government's jurisdiction.

Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, known as the commerce clause,
allows the federal government to regulate interstate commerce.

Acting Solicitor General Paul Clement represents Ashcroft in the case.
Clement argued that state medical marijuana laws make it harder to enforce
federal drug laws.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has made remarks sympathetic to the defense.
"Nobody's buying anything. Nobody's selling anything," she said.

Justice Anthony Scalia brought up examples of items that don't necessarily
cross state lines, but are nevertheless illegal to possess, like eagle
feathers and ivory.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case in June.

John Vile, chair of the political science department at MTSU, suggests that
the court case will be a death knell for state medical marijuana laws.

"The Supreme Court is likely to rule that even medical marijuana grown for
personal use is so connected to the larger traffic in drugs that Congress
has the power to regulate it under its power over interstate commerce," he
said. "If the Court does recognize this power, then conflicting state laws
would be of no effect."

"Under the circumstances, I think Cohen's bill is premature. If the Supreme
Court recognizes a medical exception to federal marijuana laws, then
Tennessee might decide whether we think marijuana has medicinal purposes.
Otherwise, all such efforts are likely to be in vain."

Nevertheless, Cohen remains optimistic, noting that when the Supreme Court
ruled against medical marijuana laws in 2001, it stopped short of ending
the laws outright.

Medical marijuana isn't just a public health issue for Cohen. It's a matter
of state's rights.

"It's a 10th Amendment issue," he said. However, he worries that justices
will rule against the amendment to push their social agendas.

Even if the Supreme Court gives medical marijuana the thumbs up, Cohen will
face opposition from a Republican-controlled state legislature.

State Sens. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, and Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, have
already spoken out against the measure.

"I wouldn't be for it at all," Tracy said, arguing that legal pain
medications already on the market should be used instead of marijuana.

But Cohen is accustomed to uphill battles.

"It took 17 years to get the lottery," he said.

He doesn't expect medical marijuana to take that long, but he acknowledges
it will be difficult to pass at first.

"This year people get to see the issue... start to see it as a
possibility," he said. "Next year people will get used to the idea, and by
the third year the legislation might pass."