WILL OUR LEADERS BE DOPES?

Or Will They Have the Courage to Legalize Medical Marijuana?

Multiple sclerosis patient Julie Falco makes a compelling case that
Illinois should legalize marijuana for medical uses.

Three times a day, Falco eats a small marijuana brownie to relieve
tingling, numbness, spasticity, bladder problems, insomnia and
depression. Pot works so well she has tossed out her prescription drugs.

"I'm in a better place physically, mentally and spiritually from
taking this," she says.

Falco, 42, recently testified for a bill that would legalize medical
marijuana. A Senate vote could come as early as today.

But the bill faces significant opposition from Republicans and
Downstate Democrats.

"Legislators tend to be unnecessarily nervous," says Bruce Mirken of
the Marijuana Policy Project. "It may take a couple of years for them
to get the courage for a floor vote to pass."

Regardless of what happens in Springfield, momentum appears to be
building for medical marijuana. New Mexico recently became the 12th
state to approve its use.

Marijuana can reduce anxiety and nausea, relieve pain and stimulate
appetite. Advocates say it can relieve symptoms of cancer, glaucoma,
HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, epilepsy, MS, Crohn's disease and Alzheimer's
disease.

But is pot really such a wonder drug?

The Food and Drug Administration and other federal agencies say "no
sound scientific studies [have] supported medical use of marijuana."

While there have been many anecdotal reports of marijuana's medical
benefits, these claims have been difficult to study
scientifically.

Obtaining marijuana for research is a hassle. The federal government
provides legal marijuana for studies. But researchers have complained
about the quality, and have been barred from growing their own.

Drug companies aren't willing to invest millions of dollars in
marijuana studies. Because marijuana can't be patented, there's not
much profit potential.

And marijuana studies are subject to bias from the "placebo effect."
That is, some patients might get better simply because they believe
the drug will help.

To prevent such bias, researchers typically give a real drug to one
group of patients and an inactive placebo to a comparison group.
Patients don't know which they're getting. But this type of study is
difficult to do with marijuana. Because pot creates a "high," patients
know when they're getting the real drug.

Sending the Wrong Message?

A 1999 Institute of Medicine study found the beneficial effects of
marijuana are "generally modest, and in most cases there are more
effective medications." However, some people don't respond to legal
meds. In such cases, marijuana would be "moderately well suited" for
such conditions as weight loss from AIDS and nausea from
chemotherapy.

Pot certainly worked wonders for Barb Marcotte of Chicago, who has
HIV. One of her HIV drugs was causing nausea and vomiting. "I would
smoke a little bit of marijuana before a meal and it really got me
through," she says.

Under the proposed bill, a patient could get a prescription for
medical marijuana from a doctor, advanced practice nurse or physician
assistant.

A patient could legally possess up to 12 marijuana plants and 2.5
ounces. A patient or caregiver could grow marijuana indoors or buy it
from a nonprofit dispensary.

Dispensaries have become controversial in California, where medical
marijuana is a $1 billion business. For example, an operator of one
supposedly nonprofit dispensary in Los Angeles was accused of illegal
drug trafficking when an investigation found he raked in $2.3 million
in just eight months.

Such abuses aren't likely in Illinois, because the proposed bill
provides tighter regulations, Mirken says.

The sponsor, Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), says his bill is a
compassionate measure "for law-abiding people who happen to be ill."

But Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) believes lawmakers should not be in
the business of approving medications -- that's the FDA's job.

And Sen. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora) worries the bill sends the wrong
message to young people. The Institute of Medicine says there's no
data to either support or refute that concern.

Medical organizations are split. The Illinois Nurses Association
supports the bill because some patients "suffer excruciating pain that
cannot always be relieved by standard pain medications." But the
American Medical Association says marijuana should remain illegal,
pending the outcome of "adequate and well-controlled studies."