MEDICAL MARIJUANA MAY GO ON OHIO BALLOT

Michigan's Vote of Interest to Proponents Here

A statewide issue to legalize medical marijuana is headed for the
ballot in Michigan next year -- and could swing south to Ohio shortly
thereafter.

The nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, which backed an unsuccessful 2002
Ohio constitutional amendment to require treatment instead of
imprisonment for nonviolent drug offenders, is watching Michigan
closely, a spokesman said.

A dozen states already have some form of medical marijuana law on the books.

"Ohio would be a state worth considering, certainly a high priority.
It would be a question of timing," said Edward J. Orlett, a former
Democratic state legislator who represents the Drug Policy Alliance in Ohio.

Marijuana contains THC, a powerful chemical that can produce a sense
of euphoria.

According to some but not all medical practitioners, it also is
useful in limiting pain; suppressing nausea and increasing appetite
in cancer and HIV/AIDS patients; and relaxing symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

It can be smoked or taken orally.

Amanda Conn Starner, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Alcohol
and Drug Addiction Services, said agency officials think there is "no
need to change ODADAS's policy on medicinal marijuana. We continue to
monitor research on the topic."

Any Ohio marijuana vote almost certainly would reunite the three
high-powered businessmen-activists-philanthropists who bankrolled the
2002 ballot issue -- George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling. The
issue was defeated by a 2-1 ratio at the polls.

Lewis, president of Progressive Corp. of Cleveland, the third-largest
insurer in the U.S., has given $7 million to the Marijuana Policy
Project, a national organization that maps out ballot issues and
legislative lobbying. He is an admitted user of marijuana and hashish.

The project recently awarded a startup grant to the Ohio Patient
Network, a Columbus-based group that supports medical marijuana.

Dianne Byrum, spokeswoman for the Michigan Coalition for
Compassionate Care, said the group needs to gather more than 500,000
signatures to get the issue on the November 2008 ballot.

"It would allow for the medical use of marijuana with a doctor's
permission," Byrum said. "This is not a broad use of marijuana. It
would be under very controlled circumstances."

The Michigan Democratic Party has endorsed the issue. In addition,
Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint and Traverse City passed ordinances
instructing law-enforcement officials to not make it a "priority" to
arrest patients who use medical marijuana, even though it remains illegal.

Ohio Rep. Robert F. Hagan, D-Youngstown, sponsored a bill in the last
legislative session to legalize medical marijuana. The bill died
without a hearing. Now, Hagan is encouraging backers to take the
issue to the ballot.

"I feel very strongly there should be alternatives to pain
medication," he said. "If people feel in the last days of their life,
when they are in terrific pain, that they need an alternative, the
doctor should allow that to happen."

Hagan's father, also a state legislator, died of three forms of
cancer. Now, Hagan's elderly mother is suffering from lung cancer.

Hagan said he assured her that if she wants medical marijuana to ease
the pain, he will get it.

"If I need it," she responded, "I would take it."

Opposing points of view on this issue can be viewed at
www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/factsht/medical_marijuana.html
and www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/.