MARIJUANA BILL READY FOR SESSION

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The debate over the issue of medical marijuana is
expected to again come up before the Connecticut legislature this coming
session.

State Rep. James Abrams, D-Meriden, said he will again propose legislation
that would allow doctors to issue certificates recommending marijuana for
their patients' medical conditions.

In 1981, Connecticut passed one of the nation's first medical marijuana
laws, allowing doctors to prescribe the drug for medical purposes. But
because federal law overrides state law, doctors have not been prescribing
it for fear of prosecution.

Under Abrams' proposed bill, doctors would not prescribe the drug, only
recommend it. The burden of acquiring marijuana would be transferred from
doctors to patients, who would have to show valid certificates.

"What we basically want to do is make the law workable," Robert Rooks,
executive director of the New Haven-based A Better Way Foundation, said.

A Better Way is a research and educational organization that has helped
draft the bill.

The bill would expand the use of medical marijuana from treatment of nausea
associated with chemotherapy and eye pressure from glaucoma to more
conditions, including HIV/AIDS.

However, the prospect of putting an illegal drug into the hands of more
people concerns some legislators who say they will oppose the bill.

"I'm just not comfortable with opening that door in terms of just general
access through a doctor's orders," said state Rep. Claudia "Dolly" Powers,
R-Greenwich.

"We do have medicines that already mimic it without the smoking part and
all that kind of stuff," she said.

State Sen. William Nickerson, R-Greenwich, said he would oppose the bill
unless the medical societies recommended it.

"I'd have to see very clear and convincing evidence from the Connecticut
Medical Society and the Connecticut medical community that this has a valid
medical use," he said. "Much of what I've read puts that into question."