BACKERS AGAIN SEEK MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON - By their own admission, the medicinal marijuana advocates who
gathered yesterday in a basement room of the Capitol made up a bizarre
partnership. They agreed that their cause - getting the federal government
to stop meddling in states' laws on the use of marijuana for medical
purposes - was pretty much hopeless right now.

But a former aide to President Reagan and several members of Congress said
the time had come to push the matter with a reluctant legislature.

"Nine states have decided to allow physicians to prescribe medical
marijuana," said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts and
one of the bipartisan authors of the bill, which was introduced a year ago
but has yet to make it out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to
the floor for debate. "What our bill does is to say [that] in those states,
there will be no federal prohibition on such use."

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington,
and Maine have laws permitting doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients
suffering from illnesses such as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, and
cancer. Proponents of medical marijuana use contend that for these patients
it relieves a variety of symptoms with minimal side effects.

State laws permitting medical marijuana use clash with federal regulation
of illegal narcotics. That has resulted in federal prosecutions of
individuals who, under state law, have committed no crime.

In its first review of a medical marijuana initiative passed by state
voters in 1996, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously last week
that residents who grow marijuana for personal medical use are protected
from state prosecution if they have their doctor's approval. However, the
US Supreme Court, considering the California initiative last year, ruled
that marijuana offered no "medical benefits worthy of exception" to federal
antidrug laws.

Backers of the bill emphasized that its scope was very narrow: to stop
interference by federal law enforcement agencies in the distribution of
medical marijuana where it is allowed by states. The legislation, they
said, was not meant to open the door to broader legalization of marijuana,
although some boosters of the bill have pushed for such change.