VIRGINIA MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW SEEN LARGELY AS SYMBOLIC, CONFLICTS WITH
FEDERAL LAW

RICHMOND, Va. -- Since 1979, Virginia law has allowed doctors to prescribe
marijuana for glaucoma and cancer patients, but few if any doctors do.

The law is viewed as largely symbolic because it conflicts with federal
policy prohibiting doctors from prescribing the drug. It was enacted in an
era when supporters expected the federal restrictions to be relaxed.

"The '70s promise was never fulfilled," said Lennice Werth, a member of the
group Virginians Against Drug Violence, which supports the availability of
marijuana for medical use.

Federal policy means that there are no legal means for patients to get the
herb, which is also known by its scientific name, cannabis sativa.

Virginia law, Werth said, "can't be used because it requires a
prescription. Under federal law, a doctor cannot write a prescription for it."

Attorney Rodney K. Adams, author of "Virginia Medical Law," said the law
puts "a doctor in conflict between two statutes. Also, the Virginia Board
of Medicine looks at any violation of the statute. Do they look at federal
law or state law when they interpret that?"

Under federal policy, marijuana is a Schedule I drug, said Dr. Billy R.
Martin, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth
University. "The definition is that it has no medical utility. Therefore,
it cannot be used in the medical profession."

In California, a federal appeals court recently ruled that the federal
government cannot go after doctors who "recommend" that patients try
marijuana. That state's laws also allow patients to grow their own herb
with a doctor's recommendation. Some jurisdictions within the state even
recognize marijuana-buyers' clubs.

"The political climate is different there than here," Martin said, adding
that the Virginia law is little used because of the lack of mechanisms for
dispensing marijuana. "In California, that is why they established
cannabis-buyers' clubs."

Doctors noticed the dilemma, too.

"There is no way I can write a prescription for marijuana. To my knowledge,
it's not stocked anywhere," said Dr. Christopher Desch, a cancer specialist
at Hematology and Oncology Associates of Virginia. "Places like California
and Oregon have pushed things a little bit."

Some cancer patients say that marijuana helps reduce nausea from
treatments, decrease pain and increase appetite. However, the verdict is
still out on whether the herb works more effectively than prescription
drugs intended to do the same.

"I have had patients who have told me they are using marijuana," Desch
said. "In most situations, I tell them it's all right to do that if it
helps them ... I have never prescribed it."

Having the Virginia law on the books may have bearing on legal cases
involving patients accused of violating drug laws, said Werth. She worked
on a letter-writing campaign in 1997 against repealing the state law.

"Sometimes a prosecutor will see that law when they have somebody who is a
paraplegic or who has multiple sclerosis," she said. "The prosecutor can
decide, 'I am just not going to prosecute this case."'