BILL WOULD DECRIMINALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

ANNAPOLIS (AP) - To help get through eight months of chemotherapy for
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Lawrence Silberman turned to pot.

Because the 51-year-old Burtonsville contractor had a teenage daughter, he
smoked the marijuana in a basement bathroom, exhaling into a fan. The few
daily puffs would help him fall asleep despite chemotherapy drugs which he
said made him feel "wired, as if I'd been on an espresso binge." The pot
also helped him eat, despite the illness.

"If I wasn't able to sleep or eat, I'd be dead," Silberman testified
Wednesday before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. "So the
marijuana did help save my life."

Silberman, whose cancer is in remission, was among those speaking in support
of a bill that would remove the threat of imprisonment for medical marijuana
patients.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Paula Hollinger, D-Baltimore County, would set
up a mechanism whereby patients, with approval of their doctors, could
obtain cards from the state Board of Physician Quality Assurance certifying
that they are using marijuana for health reasons.

Under the bill, patients suffering from a debilitating medical condition
such as cancer, HIV or AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma or Crohn's disease
could pay a registration fee of up to $150 to smoke pot and help ease the
symptoms. Supporters believe compounds in marijuana smoke often relieve
severe nausea suffered by some patients undergoing treatment for cancer -
and having trouble keeping down pills.

"For many people, marijuana is the only medicine with a suitable degree of
safety or efficacy," Hollinger said.

The patient would be allowed to grow seven marijuana plants, three of which
may be mature, and possess one usable ounce of marijuana per mature plant.

Since 1970, marijuana has been a controlled dangerous substance under state
and federal drug prohibitions. Simple possession or use of marijuana can
bring penalties of up to a year in prison or a $1,000 fine.

Despite strong opposition from the Bush administration, there is a national
movement on the state level to decriminalize marijuana for medical use, and
eight states have laws that protect patients who possess and grow their own
pot with their doctors' approval.

The Board of Physician Quality Assurance, which is a part of the Maryland
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is opposing the bill, in part
because it may conflict with federal law.

"If this measure passes in Maryland, the state must assume some liability
for setting up an illegal framework that encourages individuals and the
state to violate federal laws," said Carolyn W. Burns, the vice president of
Drug-Free Kids: America's Challenge.

Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-Harford, raised the question Wednesday of how patients
will be able get the marijuana plants without breaking the law.

"People are going to be going out and committing a crime," she said. "You've
got to figure out where to get the plants or where to get the seeds. It's
got to be in this bill."

A co-sponsor of the bill, Sen. David Brinkley, R-Frederick, downplayed the
concern of where the plants are obtained as secondary to helping people with
severe diseases.

"The fact is, they're already doing it," he said. "Your people are doing
this now."

Brinkley was treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1989, but did not use
marijuana.

Last year, a bill in Maryland to drastically reduce penalties for possession
of marijuana by those using it as medicine passed the House of Delegates but
was killed in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, under a more
conservative chairman who lost his re-election bid.

Hollinger has 19 bipartisan co-sponsors on the bill, so it already has
almost enough votes to pass the 47-member Senate. An identical measure has
56 co-sponsors in the House.

"The administration has not taken a position on this particular bill, but
Gov. (Robert) Ehrlich supports the concept of legalizing medical marijuana,"
said his spokeswoman, Shareese DeLeaver.