BOYLE PLEADS FOR LEGALIZATION OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

MADISON -- Rep. Frank Boyle issued a plea to colleagues Tuesday to
seriously consider a bill to legalize the medical use of marijuana.

During a Capitol press conference in which Boyle and Rep. Mark Pocan
introduced a medical marijuana bill patterned after state law in Hawaii,
Boyle called on lawmakers and the public to pressure legislative leaders to
give the bill fair consideration.

"We are joined today by 22 other states which are, in this legislative
session, debating similar bills, including Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota
in the Midwest," Boyle said. "We hope that, finally, this Legislature will
listen to its constituency."

Boyle, D-Superior, cited studies that indicate that nearly 80 percent of
Wisconsin residents approve the medical use of marijuana.

"They are saying that we allow all sorts of very addictive drugs to be
prescribed, and justifiably so, by the medical community to alleviate
pain," Boyle said. "We hope that we can join Alaska, California, Colorado,
Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington in finally coming,
legislatively and politically, to a consensus here in the Wisconsin
Legislature. We ought to allow our constituency to have available to them
by prescription the only drug that will alleviate pain for various diseases."

Boyle has been introducing medical marijuana bills for the past eight
years. He said he would continue to push for the measure at the request of
patients who have used marijuana as the only source of pain relief.

Pocan, D-Madison, said the bill was carefully drafted to provide safeguards
against illegal drug trafficking. He said the legislation creates a medical
defense for possession of marijuana if, and only if, the user has a written
certification from a physician that he or she has or is undergoing a
debilitating medical condition or treatment.

Joining Boyle and Pocan at Tuesday's press conference was Tiffany Richards,
a registered nurse representing the Wisconsin Nurses Association.

"It is difficult for RNs to remain silent while seriously ill patients are
denied access to an effective medical treatment," Richards said. "This is
why the Wisconsin Nurses Association has been on record supporting the use
of medical marijuana since 1999."

Boyle said opposition to the use of marijuana for medical purposes defies
reason.

"Medical marijuana is the law in eight states and Wisconsin should be the
ninth," Boyle said. "Marijuana has a wide range of therapeutic applications
that has proven to help patients yet we deny that right for them to use it.
This does not make sense."

Past attempts to legalize the medical use of marijuana have met with
failure in Wisconsin. Boyle's bills have never been scheduled for a floor
vote in the Assembly. The current bill and those previously introduced
received no Senate sponsors.

Boyle said he has no idea how Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha,
will react to the bill's introduction.

"I don't control things around here, Jensen does," Boyle said. "We do hope
that he listens to the overwhelming majority of people in Wisconsin who
support this legislation."