STATE TALKS MARIJUANA

Right before dinner, Joseph Cappello lit up a joint and drew in the smoke
deep enough to burn his throat, lungs and send his frail body into a
shaking coughing fit. It was the first time the 69-year-old Connecticut
man, diagnosed with leukemia, had ever smoked marijuana. It was also the
last time.

"He tried it. But he didn't really like it. Then again, he only smoked it
once," said son Michael Cappello of Milford, a staunch supporter of
legalizing marijuana in Connecticut for medicinal uses.

"My dad was hoping the pot might help bring back his appetite and suppress
the nausea he had from all of the chemotherapy."

Today the General Assembly's Judiciary Committee is likely to hear a lot of
stories similar to Cappello's when it convenes a public hearing on
legalizing marijuana to treat patients who are stricken with
life-threatening conditions and diseases such as cancer or AIDS.

No doubt the testimony will be heart-wrenching. Michael Cappello describes
himself as a witness to his father's rapid physical decline -- first from
leukemia itself, then from the side effects of chemotherapy.

"My dad was a robust kind of guy," Cappello said. "He was always outdoors,
running his landscaping business. He had a full head of silver hair, and he
always looked healthy."

Joseph Cappello, a roofer and then later owner of his own landscaping
company, was 5-foot-7 and weighed 200 pounds. He had a muscular, somewhat
stocky build. Within months of starting chemotherapy, Cappello shed about
60 pounds and was anxious to try a drug that he hoped would restore his
appetite and indirectly his strength.

A 1983 state law has allowed physicians to prescribe marijuana for their
patients. As far as the Fairfield County Medical Association knows, no
Connecticut doctor has ever prescribed marijuana for anyone, said Mark
Thompson, a spokesman for the association, which represents more than 2,000
physicians.

"My understanding is that physicians in Connecticut have the ability to
prescribe marijuana now," Thompson said. "But no one's ever availed
themselves of it. Besides there are other synthetic drugs that are just as
good or better than the active ingredient in marijuana for controlling pain."

State Rep. James Abrams, D-Meriden, who is the sponsor of the medicinal
marijuana bill, said he was motivated to do so after hearing the plight of
one of his constituents.

"There she was trying to care for her young son who was battling cancer,"
Abrams said. "And she was out trying to procure marijuana to ease his
nausea and help him gain back his appetite."

Since 1996, eight states have stricken criminal penalties for patients who
use, possess or grow medical marijuana with their doctor's approval. In
addition to Connecticut, Vermont and Maryland also are considering similar
laws.

Under Abrams' bill, patients who have physician approval could grow
marijuana, but only indoors and only in a small enough quantity to treat
their condition.

"The problem with the 1983 law is that it isn't workable," Abrams said.
"Physicians are afraid of getting arrested by the feds if they prescribe
marijuana."

Under the federal Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is classified as a
schedule I drug. That designation, which has remained unchanged since 1970,
means marijuana has "no accepted medical use" and represents a "high
potential for abuse."

In a unanimous decision last May, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the idea
that medical need for pot could be a defense in federal court. However,
that ruling is considered a narrow one because only a handful of small-time
marijuana growers or users ever find themselves in federal court. For
large-scale cannabis cooperatives that supply marijuana to patients, it
could mean a shutdown of their operation.

Criminal defense attorney Mickey Sherman of Stamford recalls a case from
the early 1990s that involved a client with cancer who faced criminal
charges for marijuana possession.

"The state's attorney was sympathetic to her," Sherman said, and the
charges eventually were dismissed.

Despite that experience, Sherman believes that legalizing marijuana for
medicinal uses is a mistake.

"Even though I'm considered to be this radical criminal defense lawyer,"
Sherman said, "I see problems with this bill.

"To segregate marijuana for medical purposes from recreational uses is
problematic for a number of reasons. You'll get a lot of bogus doctors and
agencies giving out scripts for marijuana to anybody under the guise of it
being to treat some kind of illness," Sherman said. "And the administrative
aspects and the regulation of such a law are going to be impossible to deal
with or to ever totally control."

What about decriminalizing marijuana altogether?

"I've just seen too many people abuse it for one thing," Sherman said.
"I've been witness to the collective negative effect it's had on their
lives whether they are young or old."