MEDICINAL POT USE ON A2 BALLOT

Although marijuana use is illegal in most parts of the United States, on
election day the citizens of Ann Arbor will decide whether medical
marijuana should be legalized in the city.

A proposal on the November election ballot would amend Ann Arbor's charter
to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. If the initiative
passes, users who can prove they are using marijuana with the
recommendation of a qualified health professional will be exempt from fines
or prosecution by Ann Arbor police officers.

Yet the move may be merely symbolic, even if the charter does get amended.
Lloyd Johnston, a researcher at the University's Institute of Social
Research, said, "There has never been a real implementation of laws (to
legalize medical marijuana) because the federal law always trumps the state
laws, and state laws in turn trump local laws."

Scio Township Trustee Charles Ream, who spearheaded the drive to place this
initiative on the ballot, says this is a chance for the city to "send a big
message that we want to help patients here, and that it is foolishness that
marijuana is not available to sick people."

As much a personal crusade as it is a political issue for Ream, the
57-year-old University alum speaks with great conviction of the efficacy of
the drug. In 1968, while in college, Ream suffered from stomach ulcers and
gastric pains so severe that he considered dropping out of school. Nothing
the doctors prescribed could ease his trauma.

"It was only after a friend gave me cannabis joints to smoke that I managed
to take control of my life again. I went back to college, graduated magna
cum laude and I've led a successful life since," says Ream, who was a
kindergarten teacher for 33 years.

Medical marijuana -- which some research has shown to treat glaucoma,
nausea and loss of appetite -- is already legal in nine states, including
California, Hawaii and Nevada. Most recently, in August, Detroit voters
passed an initiative legalizing medical marijuana in the city.

Ream has led the drive to legalize marijuana in Ann Arbor by collecting
7,000 petition signatures, about double the number necessary to put the
initiative on the ballot. He paid voters $1 per signature, using $5,000 of
his own money.

Now, with limited funds left at his disposal, Ream is doing all he can with
$4,000 provided by the Marijuana Policy Project -- an organization which
works to reduce criminal penalties for marijuana use --and another $1,000
of his own savings.

Ream wants to run radio advertisements promoting the initiative, but that
plan depends on support from donors. Instead, he has decided to rely on
newspaper articles and editorials to make his cause known. A public forum
will also be held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Ann Arbor
on Oct. 24 at 12:45 p.m., on the medicinal values of marijuana.

In addition to lack of funding, the initiative faces opposition from Gov.
Jennifer Granholm, who has made it clear that she does not approve of
medical marijuana use. In a letter to the City Council, Granholm said it is
still illegal to use, possess or sell marijuana under state and federal law.

She said that even if the proposal passes and becomes a city law, state and
federal law enforcers would still be able to arrest, charge and prosecute
marijuana users, even if they were using prescribed marijuana.

Johnston, director of an annual survey of teenage substance abuse, cites
the example of California, where a medical marijuana initiative was passed
but rarely implemented. "Federal authorities made it clear that physicians
prescribing marijuana risked losing their licenses to prescribe all
controlled substances, including all of the traditional psychotherapeutic
drugs," he said.

Ream said he refuses to be deterred by Granholm's opposition and remains
convinced that more can be done to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.
In a written response to Granholm, he said, "Ann Arbor voters don't like it
when you tell them that their vote will be ignored."

He mentioned Burlington, Vt., which legalized medical marijuana with an 83
percent majority, prompting the state to adopt the policy, and says he
hopes a similar amendment will be approved here.

"People here understand research and the truth. They are too smart to be
manipulated by cultural wars," Ream added.

Yet some people doubt that the initiative will have positive health
benefits if passed.

Kirk Brower, a psychiatry professor at the University, said, "I would vote
against this initiative because the issue here is that they want to
legalize marijuana joints. I don't think smoking a joint is the best
delivery system because along with the active ingredient that has medicinal
purposes, smokers also inhale tar and other cannabinoids whose effects have
not been researched."

While Brower believes marijuana does have medicinal values, he says drug
approval should be left to the Food and Drug Administration and not
legalized through a ballot.

"The only reason I feel people would vote for this is to raise awareness
about the effects of medical marijuana." Brower said. "However, I believe
the proper channel of approval should be through the FDA, which will impose
regulations and controls for the prescription of addictive medicines, such
as morphine."