MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL GETS HOUSE NOD

HARTFORD -- Legislation to allow patients suffering from cancer or
other major illnesses to grow and possess small amounts of marijuana
for their personal medical use won state House approval Wednesday.

House lawmakers voted 89-58 in favor of the bill despite warnings
from opponents that it would authorize such patients to break
federal drug laws, undermine the anti-drug message to young people
and lead to increased abuse of marijuana.

But advocates for the bill argued it would remove the threat of
arrest and prosecution for seriously ill patients and their
caregivers who are already buying and using marijuana to alleviate
their symptoms.

The measure now goes to the state Senate for action.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Wednesday she hasn't made up her mind what
she would do if the bill reaches her desk. "I have some mixed
emotions," said Rell, adding she would consider signing the bill
despite her concerns.

During nearly six hours of sometimes emotional debate, House
lawmakers told of their personal experiences on both sides of the
issue: about friends and family members suffering from terrible
diseases or from drug addiction.

"Today we have the opportunity to give relief to Connecticut
citizens who are sick and wasting away," said state Rep. Penny
Bacchiochi, R-Somers, who described how she bought marijuana for her
late husband during his battle with cancer.

"At one point in my life, I purchased marijuana for someone I loved,
someone sick, and I would do it again," said Bacchiochi. But she
said that, without a change in the law, such an illegal purchase of
marijuana for a suffering patient would be done "with fear of losing
my self-respect in my community."

"Be it a curse or a blessing, I have come to know a lot about
medical marijuana," Bacchiochi said in a trembling voice as she
sought to convince her colleagues to have Connecticut join the other
12 states that have passed similar laws.

The co-chairman of the legislature's Judiciary Committee, state Rep.
Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, said the purchase and use of
marijuana by patients in Connecticut "has in effect already been
decriminalized" because law enforcement officials refuse to make
arrests in such cases.

Doctors routinely prescribe drugs "that are much more powerful, much
more dangerous and much more addictive than marijuana," Lawlor said.

Deputy House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, said she
doesn't think passage of a medical marijuana bill would make it any
easier for teens to obtain the drug.

"I really believe this bill is not going to make it worse - Anybody
at this moment in time - anybody who wants to get pot will get pot,"
Klarides said. "This bill is not going to help them get it and its
not going to put the idea in their heads."

Lawlor said Connecticut law already authorizes doctors to prescribe
medical use of marijuana for their patients but that patients have
no legal access to it because of federal and state anti-drug laws.

Under the bill, a patient could not be prosecuted for possessing or
purchasing or growing small amounts of marijuana as long as he or
she had a doctor's prescription and got a license from the state.
Patients or caregivers, who must be at least 18, could legally grow
indoors up to four marijuana plants of up to 4 feet in height.

House lawmakers voted 133-14 to approve an amendment to the bill
that would prohibit anyone convicted of possession or sale of
marijuana from being accepted as a caregiver under the legislation.

The legislation would allow marijuana to be prescribed for treatment
of cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Parkinson's disease, multiple
sclerosis, and damage to the "nervous tissue of the spinal cord with
objective neurological indication of intractable spacsticity."
Prescriptions for marijuana could also be written for epilepsy,
cachexia or wasting syndrome, under the bill.

However, critics said the legislature shouldn't attempt to override
federal laws on the sale and use of marijuana.

"Were offering a remedy that is illegal under federal law," said
state Rep. Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford.

State House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said
he knew where patients with marijuana prescriptions would have to
get their marijuana. "You've got to hit the streets, folks. A nickel
bag, a dime bag, you got to make a drug deal baby," Cafero said.

State Rep. Alfred Adinolfi, R-Cheshire described a family member who
rejected medical treatment for his cancer in favor of using
marijuana and died at age 60. "It was just his way of committing
suicide to get away from the medical process," Adinolfi said.