BILL TO ALLOW MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO BE PROPOSED AGAIN

MADISON - Fifty-three-year-old Jacki Rickert of Madison is undergoing
rehabilitative therapy for four broken ribs and a chipped hipbone that
she suffered in a fall that wouldn't have hurt most people.

The therapy is expected to help, but without marijuana, Rickert doubts
she'd be able to handle the pain associated with Ehlers-Danlos
syndrome, a disorder that makes her bones and connective tissue highly
susceptible to injury.

Even daily tasks can result in the separation of her shoulder joint,
Rickert said. Marijuana calms her and relaxes her muscles, allowing
the ball and socket of her shoulder joint to be put back together
without a trip to the hospital.

Marijuana also helps Rickert, who weighs about 85 pounds, to maintain
weight by stimulating her appetite, she said. However, the use of
marijuana for any purpose is illegal, and there's a dispute over
whether it has medicinal value. But Rickert said she does "what you
have to do to get by," and that marijuana could benefit a lot of
people with chronic health problems.

Should medical use of marijuana be legal in Wisconsin?

Rickert, who lived in Mondovi until recently, is hoping a case now
being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court will pave the way for
making medicinal use of marijuana legal in Wisconsin. The high court
heard arguments Monday on whether states should have authority to
decide if marijuana is good medicine. Federal law bans marijuana use
nationally, and the Bush administration opposes a change.

State Rep. Gregg Underheim, R-Oshkosh, said he will introduce a bill
to legalize marijuana for medicinal use during the next legislative
session, which begins in January. If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in
favor of states' rights, Underheim's bill could get a boost.

Underheim introduced a similar proposal last session, but the bill
died in committee, partly over concerns about how patients would
acquire the drug, Underheim said. He's working on language that would
address that concern before re-introducing the bill, he said.

Underheim, who had a small cancerous growth removed from his prostate
in 2002, said his own experience with cancer got him thinking about
the possible medicinal benefits of marijuana. The drug can reduce
nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy and stimulate the appetites
of AIDS patients, among other benefits, said Underheim, who has headed
the Assembly's Health Committee since 1995.

Ten Democrats and two other Republicans - Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black
River Falls, and Rep. Eugene Hahn, R-Cambria - signed onto Underheim's
bill last session. Underheim said he'll get more support if the
proposal makes it to a floor vote.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle would wait to see a specific proposal before
deciding if he'd approve a bill for the legalization of marijuana for
medical use, said Melanie Fonder, a spokeswoman for the governor.

In reviewing such a proposal, Doyle would consider input from medical
professionals, who already prescribe drugs that are more dangerous
than marijuana, Fonder said.

"This should be a medical decision, not a political decision," Fonder
said.

Rickert, who also suffers from a nerve disorder, said she was once
approved in late 1990 to participate in a federal program that still
provides marijuana to seven patients in the United States. But the
program was ended by former President Bush before she was able to
participate.