BLESSING MARIJUANA FOR MERCY'S SAKE

Support for Permitting Medical Use Is Growing Among Major Religious
Denominations

Several major religious denominations have joined a growing movement to
legalize the medical use of marijuana, asserting an ethical responsibility
to help ease the pain and other debilitating effects of such diseases as
cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma.

The United Methodist Church, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Progressive
National Baptist Convention, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian
Universalist Association, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ have made
statements supporting the controlled use of marijuana for medical reasons.

"According to our tradition, a physician is obligated to heal the sick,"
begins a resolution adopted in November by the Union for Reform Judaism.
The statement acknowledges the medical use of marijuana as a 5,000-year-old
tradition and encourages the federal government to change marijuana's
status from a prohibited substance to a prescription drug.

The denominations have called for a reassessment of penalties for marijuana
users trying to increase their appetites during chemotherapy or alleviate
chronic pain. "We believe that seriously ill people should not be subject
to arrest and imprisonment for using medical marijuana with their doctors'
approval," asserted a Coalition for Compassionate Access statement endorsed
in 2002 by the United Church of Christ.

Some denominations assert strong support for medicinal marijuana but reject
its recreational use -- thus supporting one goal of secular marijuana
lobbying groups but not the ultimate goal of completely decriminalizing the
drug.

"The medical use of any drug should not be seen as encouraging recreational
use of the drug," reads a statement approved last month at the general
conference of the United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh. "We urge all
persons to abstain from the use of marijuana, unless it has been legally
prescribed in a form appropriate for treating a medical condition."

One thing notable about religious support of medical marijuana has been the
lack of intense debate, especially in denominations riven over the issues
of same-sex unions and the ordination of gay clergy, according to religious
activists.

The Rev. Cynthia Abrams, director of alcohol, tobacco and drug programming
for the United Methodists' General Board of Church and Society, said
delegates to last month's convention voted 877 to 19 in favor of an
amendment to drug-use guidelines that supports the drug's medical use in
states that allow it.

"The surprising thing, it was almost unanimous," she said of the vote.

Increased evidence of the drug's usefulness and personal anecdotes of lay
members and clergy helped the amendment's passage, she said. During the 18
months her panel worked on the proposal, "we heard many stories, from
conservatives and liberals, of family members, or people they knew or
ministered to, who had used marijuana in the course of chronic illness."

The movement to legalize the medical use of marijuana faces significant
opposition, however -- especially from the Justice Department, which
enforces federal laws prohibiting the cultivation and distribution of
marijuana, and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Marijuana is a dangerous drug, a surprisingly dangerous drug," said Tom
Riley, a spokesman for the drug policy office. More teenagers are treated
for marijuana abuse than for abuse of any other substance, including
alcohol, and any law making marijuana more accessible will exacerbate the
problem, he said.

Proponents are trying to circumvent "a well-developed system for
introducing new medicines," Riley said, adding that a pill form of
marijuana's primary active ingredient has been available for years and that
other cannabis-based medicines are in the works.

Since 1996, when a successful California referendum opened the door to
medical marijuana use there, nine states have enacted laws that allow
certain patients to use the drug despite federal prohibitions.

The most recent addition is Vermont, which last month passed a law allowing
qualified patients to grow, possess and use marijuana. The other states are
Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. In most
cases, patients receive a card or other documentation permitting them to
use the drug.

D.C. residents approved the medical use of marijuana in a 1998 referendum
- -- 69 percent voted in favor -- but Congress, the District's overseer, has
blocked implementation of the law and prevented efforts to hold subsequent
referendums on the issue.

Last year, the Maryland legislature stopped short of legalizing marijuana
for medical use but passed a bill allowing anyone convicted of marijuana
possession to argue for a reduced sentence based on its use to relieve the
pain of a chronic or life-threatening illness. Instead of a maximum penalty
of a year in jail and $1,000 fine, violators could get off with a $100 fine.

More than a dozen other states, including Virginia and Arizona, have
enacted laws that recognize marijuana's medical value but do not protect
those involved in its use from federal law, said Steve Fox, director of
government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based
lobbying organization.

Some of those states have laws that permit doctors to prescribe marijuana
as they would any other medication. But those statutes have only symbolic
value because federal law clearly prohibits doctors from doing so, and they
would be subject to prosecution, Fox said.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling last October, however, bars the federal
government from punishing doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients.

In the past six years, thousands of patients and hundreds of doctors have
participated in medical marijuana programs in the states that allow them,
and numerous medical associations have endorsed the concept. More than
4,000 physicians have submitted statements to the Marijuana Policy Project,
saying they support the medical use of marijuana, Fox said.

Religious activism on Capitol Hill began heating up in November with the
founding of the Silver Spring-based Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative,
whose purpose is to advocate "more just and compassionate drug policies,"
according to executive director Charles Thomas.

This week, the initiative faxed letters to members of the House of
Representatives asking support for an appropriations bill amendment coming
up for a House vote after the Fourth of July break.

The amendment, introduced by Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and
co-sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), would prohibit federal
funds from being used to arrest and prosecute approved medical marijuana
users and caregivers in states that allow such use. A similar amendment
introduced last summer was rejected by a vote of 273 to 152.

Hinchey said the amendment is needed because the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration has raided the homes of medical marijuana users in such
states as California, Colorado and Oregon -- confiscating the drug, making
arrests and obtaining some convictions -- despite the states' laws on the
issue.

"I'm suggesting to my colleagues that it doesn't make sense to give money
to the Justice Department to superimpose its will on several states that
decided in the interest of their citizens to go in a different direction,"
Hinchey said, acknowledging the legal confusion over a federal law that
prohibits marijuana use and state laws that allow it.

Hinchey said there's also an ethical dimension to the issue, involving the
freedom to make personal health choices, especially in a system where most
medical practices are regulated by state, not federal, law. "To the maximum
extent possible, people should be able to regulate their private lives in
the way they see fit, as long as it doesn't interfere with others," he said.

Hinchey welcomes the support of the Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative and
the denominations whose leaders have signed a statement endorsing the House
amendment -- the United Methodist Church, the National Progressive Baptist
Convention, the Union of Reform Judaism and the Unitarian Universalist
Association.

The statement reads: "Licensed medical doctors should not be punished for
recommending the medical use of marijuana to seriously ill people, and
seriously ill people should not be subject to criminal actions for using
marijuana if the patient's physician has told the patient that such use is
likely to be beneficial."

In its letter-writing campaign, the initiative targeted members of Congress
who are members of those and other religious groups that have taken a
supportive position on medical marijuana. Letters included a subject line
that began with the name of the denomination, as in: "United Methodist
Church supports medical marijuana; please vote accordingly."

General letters were sent to other House members, listing the organizations
that support medical marijuana use. "No denominations have opposed medical
marijuana," the letters assert.

Asked whether the letter wasn't a breach of church-state separation, Thomas
responded: "I don't think it is. It's a chance to educate [representatives]
about the thinking of people in their denomination whose job is to put a
lot of thought and prayer into a particular issue."

Some religious leaders have undertaken their own lobbying efforts. In
Vermont, Bishop Kenneth Angell of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington
personally urged Gov. James Douglas (R), who opposed the bill, not to veto
it. Douglas allowed the law to take effect -- without his signature.

The Catholic Church has taken no official position on the issue.

"I know this was a hard decision for Governor Douglas, but I am pleased to
hear that he will not veto the bill for Medical Marijuana," Angell said in
a statement. "I share his concern for the possible abuse of the drug and
his worry that our children might misinterpret the message. I am
encouraged, however, that the final bill addresses those concerns and still
preserves the real intent, which is to offer relief and solace from
chronic, severe suffering and pain."