DELEGATE CONTINUES CAMPAIGN FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

Continuing his General Assembly campaign for passage of medical marijuana
legislation, Del. Don Murphy, D-12th-Baltimore County, urged the Senate
Judicial Proceedings Committee to support legislation that passed late last
month on the House side by 80-56.

The bill is called the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act for a late
Howard County farmer and cancer patient who, while undergoing chemotherapy
treatments, found that smoking marijuana enhanced his appetite and helped
with nausea.

Some studies have suggested the herb can help with glaucoma, epilepsy,
Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis.

Eight states have laws allowing its use for medical purposes.

"I'm here to ask for your support," Murphy said to a panel of senators that
included Leo Green, D-23rd-Bowie. "I'm here on behalf of the 24,000 people
in the state of Maryland who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. This
bill is very important to them."

Murphy's bill, which was co-sponsored by more than 50 other delegates,
including some from Prince George's, would allow individuals whose doctors
have recommended marijuana use for medical purposes to invoke that
recommendation as a defense if they go to court for possession of the herb.

Judges who find such individuals guilty could not fine them more than $100
dollars as a penalty.

Under current law, pot possession can bring up to a $1,000 fine and a year
in jail.

"The bill does not make marijuana legal," Murphy said. "It allows cancer
patients whose doctors have recommended it to come in and argue the medical
necessity defense. It eliminates the fear of jail, and that's one less
thing to worry about in the balance of what may be a very short life."

Del. David R. Brinkley, R-4th-Frederick, told the senators that as a former
cancer patient, he could empathize with those who might find relief in
smoking marijuana.

"Part of the mission in treatment in any kind of cancer is to come after
the entire body - to poison the whole system, and the theory is that
healthy cells regenerate," Brinkley said. "Part of the necessity for that
is adequate nutrition."

Brinkley said that though he had been able to keep food down, other cancer
patients were not so fortunate, and could possibly benefit from marijuana use.

"It's not a conservative, or liberal, or Republican or Democrtat issue," he
said. "I ask my colleages, liberal and conservative, to support this bill."

The committee is expected to vote on bill today. If it passes, the bill
will then go to the full Senate for consideration.