Pubdate: Mon, 12 May 2003
Source: Norwich Bulletin (CT)
Copyright: 2003 Norwich Bulletin
Contact: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/customerservice/contact.html
Website: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2206
Author: Susan Haigh, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICAL POT BILL STAYING ALIVE

HARTFORD -- For the past two years a bill to fully legalize the medical use 
of marijuana has been snuffed out in the early days of the legislative session.

But this year the proposal finds itself sitting on the House of 
Representatives calendar, waiting for a possible floor vote.

"I'm more shocked than anybody to get it through the committee process," 
joked Rep. James Abrams, D-Meriden, the main proponent of the legislation.

Abrams acknowledges he isn't sure whether the bill will be called up for a 
vote in the House. But he said there appears to be a fair amount of 
bipartisan support for the bill.

"If we get a vote, it will be close. It's not going to pass by a wide 
margin," Abrams said. "It's something that takes some education."

A Better Way Foundation, a New Haven-based nonprofit group that supports a 
shift in Connecticut's drug policy from a public safety issue to a public 
health issue, has taken on that role.

The group, which hired a lobbying firm and started an e-mail campaign, has 
scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to unveil a list of more than 200 
medical doctors across the state who've sent postcards saying they back 
medical marijuana.

Robert Rooks, the foundation's executive director, said the group wants to 
show lawmakers there is support for the bill within the medical community 
as well as the public.

"So many people say they support it, but because of the powers that be and 
who they work for, they can't come out and support it," Rooks said. "It's 
frustrating."

In 1981 Connecticut was one of the first states in the nation to pass a 
medical marijuana law. Under that law, a doctor is allowed to prescribe the 
illegal drug to relieve nausea associated with chemotherapy and eye 
pressure from glaucoma.

But the law is unworkable because, under federal law, any physician who 
prescribes marijuana can be sent to prison and risks having their medical 
license revoked, Abrams said. That's why a single prescription for 
marijuana has not been issued since the law passed.

Abrams said former state Rep. John G. Rowland, now the Republican governor, 
and newcomer Moira Lyons, now the Democratic House speaker, both voted for 
the 1981 bill.

The new proposal would allow a doctor to provide a written certification 
that would qualify a patient to use marijuana for medical purposes. The 
patient would be able to grow up to three plants for personal use and could 
use that certificate as a legal defense for having the illegal substance.

It would be up to the patient to possess the marijuana seeds.

The proposal is similar to laws on the books in Alaska, California, 
Colorado, Hawaii and Maine. According to A Better Way Foundation, nine 
states have "workable" medical marijuana laws. There are 35 states, 
including Connecticut, that have passed legislation recognizing the drug's 
medicinal value.

The new law would also expand the illnesses that could be treated with 
medical marijuana. They would include multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, 
cachexia (a wasting syndrome typically associated with AIDS), epilepsy, and 
severe pain and nausea or severe persistent muscle spasms.

Advocates claim that marijuana is more effective than prescribed drugs in 
relieving pain and has fewer side effects.

But not all legislators believe there has been outcry for fully legalizing 
marijuana for medical purposes. During a debate in the legislature's 
Judiciary Committee in March, state Rep. John Wayne Fox, D-Stamford, noted 
that no physicians, including oncologists, testified in favor of the 
legislation. He said the only doctor who voiced support for the bill was an 
evolutionary biologist from Yale University.

"That says something to me, folks, it really does," Fox said. "I don't 
think, with all due respect, there's evidence to justify it."

Other lawmakers said they worry about the state essentially condoning an 
illegal substance -- one that some consider "a gateway drug" that can lead 
to use of cocaine or heroin.

Jim Battaglio, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Medical Society, said 
the state group follows the American Medical Association on the issue. The 
AMA has called for more studies of marijuana for patients and recommends 
that authorities continue to classify marijuana as a controlled substance 
pending the outcome of studies.

The national doctors' group also called on the National Institutes of 
Health to research the medical utility of marijuana and develop a 
smoke-free, inhaled delivery system.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom