POT FOR PATIENTS

Oregon Man Says Time Is Right for Medicinal Marijuana in Ohio

Medicinal marijuana use has been an issue of extensive legal and
legislative wrangling in several, mostly Western, states, but if a
Toledo-area activist has his way, the debate will extend to Ohio.

Politicians, he argues, are the final obstacle to legalizing medical
marijuana in Ohio.

"Politicians are scared that if they show any compassion towards the
medical use, their opponents will label them 'soft on drugs,'" says
Jim White, the Oregon resident who authored the bill. "But the reality
is, voters are more likely to support candidates who support medical
use of cannabis."

Members of Ohio Patient Net-work have been drafting a bill, for more
than a year now, that would permit medicinal marijuana use. White, a
father of two and a computer repair technician, is the nonprofit's
vice president.

In its three-year existence, OPN has become a formidable grass-roots
effort promoting the legal use of medicinal marijuana. White says OPN
has 600 members statewide and is seeking to gain the support of a
large number of Ohioans already using medicinal marijuana, who are
afraid to leave the proverbial closet.

Yet, as the time nears to present what White calls the Ohio Medicinal
Marijuana Act to the floors of the Statehouse in Columbus, medicinal
marijuana proponents acknowledge Ohio is a long way from legalizing
marijuana use for the sick and dying. Medicinal marijuana is sometimes
prescribed for those who suffer from cancer, AIDS and a host of other
ailments.

OPN recently forwarded a draft of the bill to state Rep. Ken Carano,
D-Youngstown. OPN is the lead public sponsor, and Carano is considered
one of Ohio's few political office holders who would contemplate
taking such a bill to the Statehouse, where war-on-drugs Republicans
significantly outnumber Democrats.

Gov. Bob Taft and his political allies' efforts to defeat a statewide
drug treatment initiative last year, likely foreshadow how difficult
it would be to pass medicinal marijuana legislation in Ohio. The group
spent millions of taxpayer dollars to defeat Issue I, which would have
authorized rehabilitation instead of prison for nonviolent
drug-possession offenders.

Proponents of Issue 1 at the time argued an elected official was
trying to squash the electoral process, which is prohibited under
state law. But Taft said his office was trying to protect Ohio
citizens from what he deemed dangerous legislation, thus avoiding any
sanctions.

Nonetheless, Issue 1 was overwhelmingly defeated.

"Our biggest obstacle is ignorance and fear," White says. "Most
people -- and believe it or not -- most doctors, know very little
about the medical benefits of cannabis. And it's not that the evidence
is not there, it is."

State Rep. Carano, a former teacher, says he does not advocate the use
of marijuana for any reason but medicinal. Along with "a strong basis
of medical fact," he says his instinct tells him many could benefit
from medicinal marijuana.

For instance, a White House-commissioned 1999 Institute of Medicine
report concluded medicinal marijuana is beneficial for some patients.
There are about 200 documented medical applications for marijuana,
such as relieving chronic pain, stimulating appetite for those
undergoing chemotherapy, easing eye pressure for glaucoma sufferers
and decreasing spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.

Opponents argue medicinal marijuana cures nothing.

Carano says just getting the bill into committee at the Statehouse,
and into a debate among both Republicans and Democrats, would be a
small victory.

"This bill goes nowhere if I can't (get) some Republicans on my side,"
says Carano, 58, a self-described "very liberal person."

But Carano believes there are a number of moderate Republicans who, at
least, are willing to listen.

The opposition's major contention with the bill, says Carano, is the
"control" issue. The issue's premise is whether or not medicinal
marijuana can stay in the possession of patients and stay out of the
hands of abusers.

Carano recently told Statehouse reporters the bill's only chance might
lie in how the marijuana is delivered --in this case, pill form alone.

The statements apparently caught OPN members off guard, and they
immediately corrected Carano. They have subsequently responded by
saying the bill needs to allow for several different delivery methods.
Deirdre Zoretic, director of patient advocacy for the OPN, says many
patients found that a medicinal marijuana pill, such as Marinol,
worsened their nausea.

"Different patients need different methods of delivery," says Zoretic,
who suffers from a nerve disease called reflex sympathetic dystrophy.
"Whether that's ingesting it, a rub, a mist, or a product called the
'Volcano' (an inhaler-like apparatus available in England, where
medicinal marijuana is legal)," she says, "I would like to keep the
smoking method open, as well."

Zoretic, who lives in Cleveland, says marijuana decreases the pain and
nerve attacks associated with her condition.

White and other OPN members say they have spoken to dozens of
legislators who say they would go public with their endorsement of
medicinal marijuana if a large number of their constituents showed
support. But White says the public support is strong, and it's up to
these same legislators to have some courage.

"It's a shame because some of these patients are fighting for their
lives, while politicians fight for a spot on next year's ballot," he
says.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case
brought by the Bush administration that sought to forbid California
physicians from prescribing marijuana. The court's refusal was a clear
victory for proponents, considering it also protects physicians in the
eight other states that have legalized medicinal marijuana. Those are
Alaska, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada and Washington.