MEDICAL POT: PETITION DRIVE CAN PUT ISSUE WHERE IT BELONGS - WITH VOTERS

Six years ago, Michigan saw petition gatherers advocating a statewide
vote on recreational use of marijuana. It was a bad idea at the time,
as an LSJ editorial stated. It's still a bad idea, as Lansing-based
pollster Ed Sarpolus affirmed in noting full legalization is still a
no-go with state voters.

Medical use of marijuana is an entirely different matter, however.
And, appropriately, a new petition drive has started to put before
the Legislature, and probably the voters, the issue of legalizing
medical use of cannabis.

Last week, organizers cleared one of the first hurdles - approval of
the form of their petitions by the Board of State Canvassers. That
still leaves advocates a long way from forcing the Legislature to
consider the issue or, facing legislative rejection, getting voters
to decide the question on the 2008 ballot.

Nevertheless, the usual critics are moving into position against the
petition drive. The principal avenues of opposition are legal and medical.

Medical Issues Unresolved

The medical question is, indeed, cloudy. Dr. Kenneth Elmassian of the
Michigan State Medical Society argues there are other pain-relief
options to smoking marijuana.

Former state Rep. Dianne Byrum, speaking for petition advocates, says
alternatives such as Marinol are not the same as marijuana and there
are issues with dosages to provide pain relief.

The real question is not the chemical value inside marijuana, but
whether smoking the plant has benefits that other delivery methods do
not. Part of the problem, though, is that the federal War on Drugs
crowd has made it almost impossible to do full-blown medical studies.
You have to grow marijuana to study it, but that's a problem for the
Drug Enforcement Administration and those on Capitol Hill who always
know better for the rest of the country.

The obvious course, though, is to pursue research - research based on
actual use. Petitioners in Michigan want to allow sufferers of
certain diseases under strict medical advice the option to grow and
use marijuana.

Political Terrain Shifting

That runs into the law enforcement crowd. Ingham County Sheriff Gene
Wriggelsworth and Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III both issued worries
and warnings to the LSJ about the marijuana petition. They would be
right in the middle of the law enforcement mainstream with such attitudes.

Popular opinion is another story.

A dozen states have enacted some form of medical marijuana
legalization. Just last week, the Connecticut Senate sent to the
governor's desk a medical marijuana bill. And lawmakers in Rhode
Island expressed confidence they could override a gubernatorial veto
to reauthorize an expiring medical marijuana statute in that state.

Sarpolus, meanwhile, says medical use of marijuana has popular support here.

As for fears of Michigan setting up citizens for problems with a
marijuana-obsessed federal government, consider this story out of
California (which has legalized medical marijuana):

In late May, a federal jury convicted that state's "guru of ganja"
(Ed Rosenthal) of three marijuana-related felonies. It was
Rosenthal's second trial, and even the judge in the case deemed
federal prosecutors to be involved in vindictive efforts against him.

Still, Rosenthal will not serve any more time for the convictions in
a deal agreed to by federal prosecutors. Rosenthal has served one day
- - from a 2003 conviction, which the jury immediately renounced when
it learned that it had been denied testimony that Rosenthal was
acting for a medical marijuana program in Oakland.

Could the sentencing deal be evidence that even federal officials are
looking around and discovering their fixation is not shared by the
general public?

The next step in this process is easy: Advocates have to show they
can gain enough petition support to get their day before the
Legislature and, if necessary, the voters. Opponents can make their
case that medical marijuana is a threat.

And the people of this state can decide for themselves.