UNLIKELY PAIR OF STATE ASSEMBLYMEN SEEKS TO LEGALIZE MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

It's an unlikely meeting between left and right: A self-described
ultra-conservative lawmaker has joined with one of the Assembly's most
liberal members to draft a bill to support the medical use of
marijuana in New Jersey.

Assemblymen Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris Township, and Reed
Gusciora, D-Princeton Borough, rarely find themselves on common
political ground.

"I'm about as far to the right as possible," Carroll said. "And Reed
is about as far to the left as he can get."

Yet, these two lawmakers found themselves on the same side of this
issue for similar reasons.

"I had a constituent whose son passed away from cancer," Gusciora
said. "And another constituent whose wife passed away from cancer."
Gusciora said that, in both cases, the medicinal use of marijuana
would have relieved nausea and sickness brought on by
chemotherapy.

For Carroll, considering the use of medicinal marijuana is both
political and personal.

"When my grandmother was dying of a particularly nasty cancer, I would
not have stood between her and a release from that pain," he said.

Carroll's grandmother did not use marijuana, but the assemblyman
believes that other patients should not be put in the position of
having to choose between breaking the law and continuing to suffer.

"There's no such thing as an evil plant," Carroll said. "No such thing
as an evil substance. If a patient can benefit from a substance, why
should the law stand in between a patient and release?"

More than that, however, Carroll said he believes that physicians
should be able to choose which drugs they prescribe to their patients
without interference from the government. "The less time we spend
telling people what to do, the better," he said.

The conservative lawmaker instead wants to use this bill to send a
message to the federal government - in particular, the Food and Drug
Administration - to rethink its message to doctors.

"Physicians should be allowed to prescribe drugs as they see fit,"
Carroll said.

If the bill, to be introduced this month, makes it through both
legislative chambers and passes the governor's desk, New Jersey would
join nine other states that have legalized medicinal marijuana.

A spokesman for the Governor's Office, however, said that Gov. James
E. McGreevey opposes the legalization of marijuana for medical use. A
spokeswoman for state Senate President Richard J. Codey, who will
become acting governor after McGreevey's Nov. 15 resignation, said he
could not comment before reading the bill.

Jim Miller, a Dover Township, Ocean County, resident, is a longtime
activist for medicinal marijuana. On June 7, 2003, his wife, Cheryl,
died after battling multiple sclerosis for more than 30 years.

Cheryl Miller, also an activist for medicinal marijuana, was arrested
in 1998 for ingesting marijuana inside the office of a U.S.
congressman, with television cameras recording the scene. The U.S.
Attorney's Office later declined to prosecute the Millers for
possession of marijuana.

Five years after the demonstration in the congressman's office, and
after Cheryl's death, Jim Miller is finally hopeful that a workable
medical marijuana bill will be presented to the Assembly. He sees the
joining of the two lawmakers - from far right and far left - as the
best chance New Jersey residents have of seeing medical marijuana
legalized in the state.

"I'm about as optimistic as I can get," Miller said. "That Reed
(Gusciora) brought on Michael Patrick Carroll astounded me."

Miller said that, even though his wife has died, this bill is
important to him.

"I asked Cheryl if she wanted to move to California in 1997," he said.
California is one of the nine states that legalized medicinal
marijuana. "And she asked me, 'If we went there, who would be here
fighting?'"

Miller's voice cracked a bit, but he went on: "I don't need to hear
the people here in New Jersey cry out in pain. I don't need to see
them to know that they're sick."

Gusciora said medical marijuana can help people. "I don't think we
should make criminals out of our terminally ill," he said.