MARIJUANA FIGHT TO BE CONTINUED

The ink is still wet on a bill drastically reducing the penalties for
possessing marijuana, but even as it dries, proponents are gearing up for
another protracted fight in the next Maryland General Assembly session to
finish the job on a law they say is incomplete.

Under the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act, which goes into effect Oct.
1, users still face a penalty. And the drug is still illegal for medicinal
use. Patients using the drug, however, should not face arrest.

"The law as was passed and signed was one of those legislative compromises
that kind of validates the old joke about people with weak stomachs should
never watch either laws or sausages being made," said Bruce Mirken,
communications director with the Marijuana Policy Project, the organization
behind the refocused lobbying effort.

But illegal is the way opponents -- specifically the federal government --
want the legislation to stay, saying supporters' efforts are part of the
slippery slope toward legalization of marijuana throughout the U.S., part
of a greater grand scheme in which states are won over one by one to
pressure the federal government to accept new legalization laws.

"A lot of people might see this as a strong case of 'we told you so,'" said
Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of Drug Control Policy.
"... Other people tried to point out that this was just a Trojan horse for
a drug legalization camp. I think this action (plans to resubmit the
legislation) underscores that motivation."

Under the bill, signed into law by Gov. Robert Ehrlich in May, medical
marijuana users face only a $100 penalty and no jail time if they can prove
the drug is used to alleviate their symptoms, from Crohn's Disease to
advanced AIDS and cancer. For those without that proof, the fine is still
$1,000 and up to one year in jail.

It was the second version of the bill. The first, named the Darrell Putman
Medical Research Act, would have tacitly legalized medical marijuana use,
allowed for possession of up to seven plants for personal use and placed
users on a registry to take part in a study.

The bill was gutted, renamed the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act, and
its language changed because of significant problems overcoming delivery of
the drug and conflict with federal law.

It's that bill proponents in the Marijuana Policy Project hope to revive.

Mr. Ehrlich himself has been a longtime proponent of some form of medical
marijuana legislation and, despite facing stiff lobbying from the White
House over his support, he still penned his name to the law. It's unlikely
he will move to support decriminalization, given the problems with federal
law, some say.

Whether Tom Walters, the White House "drug czar," will step in again to
pressure the governor depends on influences that may come to bear in
Maryland politics.

"Let's see what winds up happening," Mr. Riley said.

On its Web site, the Marijuana Policy Project has begun the lobbying
effort, even providing templates of letters to the editor for supporters to
send off to newspapers around the state.

It's part of a large grass-roots effort in a traditional lobbying vein, Mr.
Mirken admitted. Eight states have some form of medical marijuana law. Mr.
Mirken refers to Maryland as "eight-and-a-half."

"I really do believe this, when people hear about this and look at the
facts, its not a difficult issue, it's just not," he said.

Opponents say arguments for medical marijuana go only so far before a
greater goal becomes clear -- this is simply a further step along the road
of drug legalization in America.

"There are levels at which people would want to look the other way," Mr.
Riley said. "But let's be honest about the effort here. Fool me once, shame
on you, fool me twice, shame on me. That's I think what's happening here."

And people see the real story is a legalization effort, he said.

"As soon as (the Maryland Policy Project) show their real colors, people
are a lot less enthusiastic," Mr. Riley said.

Mr. Mirken acknowledges his organization would like legalization of
marijuana, although they don't like that term.

"I'm always reluctant to use the word 'legalization,' because when you say
that people think you mean putting on the candy counter at 7-Eleven next to
the Snickers bars, which is absolutely not what we want," he said. "What we
would like to see is marijuana prohibition replaced with a regulated system."

And they are building support, he said. A number of places in the country
are approaching "critical mass" as far as the issue of medical marijuana,
although it's not an overnight process. Politicians are still nervous about
the issue of drug use and it takes "years to build before people are
willing to take a look at it with an open mind."

The organization is in touch with some politicians who had the strongest
opposition to the original form of the law, Mr. Mirken said.

As for the idea that it's a slippery slope, "Doctors now can prescribe
morphine cocaine, amphetamine," Mr. Mirken said. "No one says that's a foot
in the door to legalization. I gotta say, give me a break."

Focusing on Maryland may not be in the best interests of a group angling
for medical marijuana legalization. Although Mr. Ehrlich showed
independence from hard-line White House thinking by signing the bill into
law, it is unlikely that the first Republican governor for 36 years and
friend of the Bush administration will want to go any further. The General
Assembly may not either, given their reluctance to stomach the bill's first
drafts.

And the issue may be almost certainly moot for the next session, and
uncertain for at least the next three years, said state Sen. David
Brinkley, a New Market Republican and key proponent of the medical
marijuana legislation.

Members of the MPP "need to get some other states to move in that
direction," he said. "It's fine to keep it on the radar scope -- I'm not
surprised that they will want to keep the issue in the forefront -- but I
would expect the vast majority of their resources will go elsewhere."

Any maneuvering to legalize medical marijuana use will likely draw the
opposition of law enforcement agencies, such as the Maryland Troopers
Association, who spoke out on the initial version of the Putman act. They
took no position on lessening the penalties on the revised version, because
it does not interfere with the troopers' day-to-day jobs.

Anyone possessing marijuana can be arrested, so under the bill, as it will
go into effect in October, nothing is changed for officers. It is up to a
judge to decide whether someone is legitimately using the drug for
medicinal reasons.

"Any bill that would actually legalize marijuana in this state, we would
oppose because every day police officers face death from these people
smuggling this stuff into our country illegally, and as president of the
Maryland Troopers Association there is no way that I could ever support
legalizing something that might get one of the troopers killed,"
association president Nick Paros said. "No way."

It's having a judge decide what rightfully should be in a doctor's domain
that could cause problems in the future, Mr. Riley said.

"It puts the medical determination about whether the person needed this
'medicine' in the hands of a judge," he said. "Public policy 101 would say
that's not a good way to design a bill."