MEDICAL MARIJUANA APPLICATIONS OPEN NEXT MONTH

MONTPELIER -- The state will begin taking applications next month from
people who want to legally use marijuana to cope with serious medical
ailments.

Katherine Perera of Hancock expects to be one of the first to apply,
she said Wednesday. "I plan on registering and making myself legal."

Perera has used marijuana for years to cope with nausea and lack of
appetite produced by the cocktail of medicines she takes to combat
HIV. She said she contracted the virus from a blood transfusion. She
trekked to the Statehouse many times in recent years to lobby for
passage of a law that would allow her to use marijuana without fear of
going to jail.

Last spring, the Legislature passed a "medical marijuana bill." Gov.
Jim Douglas allowed it to become law without his signature.

Under the new law, Vermonters such as Perera won't face prosecution
for using or possessing small amounts of marijuana if they have state
identity cards certifying they meet certain eligibility standards.

To qualify for the protection, an individual must have terminal cancer
or AIDS, or debilitating and intractable symptoms caused by AIDS,
cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis or the treatments for any of these
diseases.

The state will start taking applications for the identity cards Oct.
28.

"We are on target for implementation on Oct. 28," Frances Aumand,
director of division of criminal services in the Department of Public
Safety, said Wednesday to lawmakers on the Health Access Oversight
Committee. He said the application form will be posted on the
department's Web site shortly before the target starting date.

The state will have 30 days from the date of an application to verify
an individual's medical condition by contacting the doctor the person
listed on the form. Doctors won't be asked whether they recommend
marijuana use, Aumand said.

Aumand said his office has hired a computer firm to create the
framework for a database of the users and caregivers. Police around
the state must be able to check the list 24 hours a day.