OSHKOSH LEGISLATOR TO LEAD PUSH

Gary Storck of the local organization Is My Medicine Legal YET? says more
than 80 percent of Wisconsin residents polled by Chamberlain Research
Associates two years ago said they would support a state law allowing
seriously or terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes
if supported by their physician.

Rep. Gregg Underheim, R-Oshkosh, chairman of the state Assembly's Public
Health Committee, sponsored such a bill last session. The bill died but
Underheim said this week he is interested in pursuing it again next session.

The initial bill was flawed, he said.

"First, it talked about letting doctors prescribe (marijuana) and I've
discovered that is not something that is done in any other states. They
recommend rather than prescribe and they advise rather than prescribe," he
said.

The thorny problem still is how to create access to medical marijuana.

"In other states you allow people to grow it themselves, and I was
reluctant to take that step in Wisconsin. But if it's going to be
available, we've got to create access for it."

Underheim said he supports medical marijuana legislation because of a
serious body of research that shows the medical benefit of cannibanoids,
which are the active ingredients in marijuana. Some of the cannibanoids are
intoxicating, some are not, he said.

The positive effects include quelling nausea, pain relief, appetite
stimulus for AIDS patients, and benefits for people with multiple
sclerosis, he said.

"There are a number of positive uses and I think it's reasonable to explore
them," Underheim said.