PUSH TO LEGALIZE MEDICINAL POT STALLS IN CONGRESS

WASHINGTON -- Advocates for the legalization of marijuana for
medicinal purposes have seen their efforts go largely up in smoke on
Capitol Hill.

No votes have been held or are contemplated to legalize medicinal
marijuana by the House or Senate, although voters in several states
are considering measures to make it easier to use marijuana for
legitimate medical purposes.

The House, meanwhile, in July rejected an amendment to block the
Justice Department from prosecuting medicinal marijuana users in
states where it is legal.

The House voted 268 to 148 against the amendment. Rep. Rosa DeLauro,
D-3, voted in favor. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, opposed it.

"I don't like that type of approach, where you are basically
preventing the feds from enforcing the law. Change the law if you
don't like the law," Shays said.

According to a University of Connecticut poll conducted this summer,
about 83 percent of state residents support making use of marijuana
legal for legitimate medical purposes.

Shays said he might support legislation to allow marijuana to be used
to alleviate pain, but only if it included "very strict requirements."

"I don't want to turn upside-down restrictions on marijuana," he said.

DeLauro said that as a cancer survivor she understands the "intense
desire" to pursue every option for easing patient pain and suffering.

"If the use of medicinal marijuana can be medically proven to bring
relief to patients, we should examine the possibility of making it
available under strictly controlled circumstances," she said. "Then we
can provide comfort to seriously ill patients without weakening our
tough stand against drugs."

Although the issue has not come up in their chamber, Connecticut's
senators say they favor decriminalizing marijuana use for medicinal
purposes although they would not favor legalizing it for recreational
use.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., believes "it is humane and sensible" to
allow limited, doctor-supervised use of marijuana to treat medical
conditions when other options don't work, said Casey Aden-Wansbury, a
spokeswoman for the senator.

"He also believes that drug enforcement agents should enforce the law
but not aggressively target medical users," she said.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., believes that marijuana should be available
to alleviate pain and suffering for seriously ill people and that
federal drug enforcement agents should not interfere with doctors or
other health providers who seek to provide such treatment, according
to his staff.

Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy
Project, said that Congress is "almost definitely" not going to take
up medicinal marijuana legislation before the November elections.

Despite the inaction, Fox said there has been progress made in
convincing more lawmakers of the benefit of medicinal marijuana as
well as the need to set priorities for federal law enforcement agents
when it comes to this issue.

Fox points out that federal law enforcement agents have carried out
raids on individuals and cooperatives that cultivate or possess
marijuana for medicinal purposes.

On Sept. 23, 2002, federal drug agents in Oregon seized marijuana
plants being cultivated under state license by a 52-year-old
quadriplegic for medicinal purposes. Fox said that federal agents have
also gone after similar medicinal marijuana operations in California,
where state law also permits it.

The battle over medical marijuana is being fought largely on the state
level since Congress has failed to act. Alaska, California, Colorado,
Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have exempted qualified patients
from criminal prosecution for the possession and use of medicinal
marijuana when recommended by their physician.

Connecticut law allows physicians to prescribe marijuana for medicinal
purposes but doctors have been reluctant to do so given federal
prohibitions. There was legislation this year to remove doctors from
any legal liability but that effort fell short. The issue will likely
resurface next year.

"I think we're in good shape," said state Rep. Jim Abrams, D-Meriden,
the chief sponsor of the state bill.

The bill would allow certified patients, with the approval of their
physician, to cultivate and use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"Since 1981, it has been legal in Connecticut for doctors to write
prescriptions for marijuana but they [physicians] are afraid [U.S.
Attorney General] John Ashcroft will come kick the door down if they
do," Abrams said.

Meanwhile, there's a bumper crop of marijuana initiatives on local and
state ballots this fall, according to Paul Armentano, a senior policy
analyst for The NORML Foundation.

* Alaskan voters will decide if marijuana should be decriminalized
for "medicinal, recreational or industrial" use. It would also
encourage the state legislature to regulate marijuana, as it regulates
alcohol or tobacco.

* Montana voters will decide if qualified patients can possess and
cultivate marijuana for medicinal purposes.

* In Oregon, voters will likely decide whether the state's existing
medicinal marijuana law should be amended to allow patients to possess
up to 10 marijuana plants or one pound of usable marijuana.

* In Arkansas, proponents of medicinal marijuana are still seeking
petition signatures to get a referendum on the ballot.

* Voters in Oakland, Calif., will decide if municipal guidelines
should make enforcement of marijuana offenses the city's "lowest law
enforcement priority." A similar proposal may be on the ballot in
Tallahassee, Fla.

Medicinal marijuana proposals are also on ballot in Ann Arbor and
Detroit, Mich.

There is also a regulatory effort under way to get the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration to stop medicinal marijuana drug raids.

A coalition of health and drug law reform organizations filed an
administrative petition in October 2002 to have DEA reclassify
marijuana so that doctors could prescribe it legally.

Petition organizers claim to have provided extensive scientific
evidence on marijuana's potential therapeutic uses that would allow
for a lower classification under the federal Controlled Substance Act.

This month, DEA asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
to conduct a scientific and medical evaluation of marijuana as part of
a reassessment of its scheduling under the federal Controlled
Substance Act.

The regulatory approach has been taken in the past and failed.

NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws,
filed a similar rescheduling petition with the DEA in 1972. Sixteen
years later, a DEA administrative law judge ruled that marijuana
should be reclassified but the DEA administrator rejected the judge's
determination a decision that the D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed in
1994.