IS COMPASSIONATE USE OF CANNABIS ON THE HORIZON IN OHIO?

A month ago California took one step for cannabis, and in the view of
Proposition 215 supporters, a step for mankind.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the federal
government may not revoke the licenses of doctors who recommend
marijuana to their patients, reported the New York Times.

The court said that dispensing information is not synonymous with
dispensing drugs, and by ruling that dispensing information was
illegal, the government would be violating the First Amendment.

The 1996 California law, Proposition 215, allows patients to grow and
possess marijuana if they have a doctor's written or oral
recommendation.

Ohio is not among the group of states -- Alaska, Arizona, California,
Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington -- that have
similar laws that permit the medical use and cultivation of marijuana.

But a recent bill drafted by the Ohio Patients Network, a non-profit
coalition of patients, caregivers, activists and medical professionals
who support the compassionate use of cannabis for various medicinal
purposes, could pave the way for Ohioans to have the same rights that
Californians received at the end of October.

Through analysis of 66 different public opinion studies since the
passage of Proposition 215, the OPN says it has found that an
estimated 9 million people in the United States use cannabis
medicinally.

Their bill, "The Ohio Medical Marijuana Act 2002," would provide for
and permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes within Ohio and
encourage the federal government to reclassify marijuana so it can be
a prescribed controlled substance.

The OPN defines "medical use" as the acquisition, possession,
cultivation, use, transfer, or transportation of marijuana or
paraphernalia relating to the administration of it to alleviate the
symptoms or effects of a patient's debilitating medical condition.

Their plan is to have registry identification cards issued by the
state Department of Health that would exempt the cards' holders from
criminal and civil penalties for the medical use of, or recommendation
of, medical marijuana.

Their act also states that insurance companies, HMOs and state-funded
Medicare/Medicaid programs shall not be required to cover the medical
use of, or acquisition of marijuana for medical purposes.

Many supporters of medical marijuana argue that it does not cause
health problems like cancer.

But a Dec. 17, 2000 report in a journal, "Cancer Epidemiology
Biomarker and Prevention," reported provocative findings. Dr. Zuo-Feng
Zhang, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University
of California Los Angeles Jonsson Cancer Research Center, reported
that smoking marijuana may increase cancer risks in the neck, mouth,
larynx and pharynx.

"The chance is 2.6 times higher for people who smoke marijuana than
those who never used it," Zhang said.

Zhang gathered his information during a two-year study that ended in
1994. He monitored 173 people who had head and neck cancer and
compared them to 176 cancer-free patients. He eliminated other
cancer-causing variables, like cigarettes and alcohol, from the study.

"The carcinogens in marijuana are much stronger than those in
tobacco," he said.

Yet those who use marijuana for medical reasons claim that the herb is
not as toxic as pharmaceutical drugs prescribed by their doctors, The
New York Times reported. Patients undergoing chemotherapy say it helps
with nausea. Some who have wasting syndrome, a metabolic change
associated with HIV infection, have found that marijuana helps their
appetites.

The British House of Lords found in a study that medical uses of the
drug include controlling pain and nausea, and stimulating the appetite.