Pubdate: Wed, 01 Nov 2006
Source: Rapid City Journal (SD)
Copyright: 2006 The Rapid City Journal
Contact:  http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1029
Author: Ryan Woodard, Journal Staff Writer
Cited: Initiated Measure 4 http://sdmedicalmarijuana.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Initiated+Measure+4
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

BILL PITS ATTORNEY GENERAL AGAINST MEDICAL-MARIJUANA PROPONENTS

Editor's note: This is another in a series of stories  on ballot
issues and candidates facing South Dakota  voters in the Nov. 7
general election.

Voters will decide next week whether South Dakota  citizens should
legally be allowed to use medical  marijuana to treat symptoms caused
by certain medical  conditions.

The controversial Initiated Measure 4 would allow  people with
"debilitating" medical conditions to grow,  possess and use small
amounts of medical marijuana.

Proponents say the bill would enable those who have  painful
conditions to legally ease their pain.

"I think it's very important for all the sick people  who want to have
choices in the way they treat their  medical conditions," said Valerie
Hannah, a Deerfield  resident who has used marijuana to ease pain
resulting  from her exposure to sarin gas during the Gulf War.

Rapid City resident Cynthia Siragusa, a  multiple-sclerosis sufferer,
agreed.

"I'm a decent person, and I don't want to be a criminal  because I use
this to alleviate my pain," she said.

But opponents of the bill say that it is too broad and  would increase
the overall use of marijuana.

"My problem with this bill is, this isn't about just  getting
marijuana to people who have a serious medical  condition," Attorney
General Larry Long said. "This is  about getting marijuana to a lot of
other people, too."

"This bill is big enough you can drive a truck through  it," he
said.

A primary argument Long has with the bill is section  11, which he has
called a "get-out-of-jail-free card."

The wording in that section states "no qualifying  patient or
caregiver who possesses a registry  identification card issued
pursuant to this act may be  arrested, prosecuted or penalized in any
manner, or be  denied any right or privilege."

The wording, which is designed to protect those who  medically use
marijuana and those who care for them,  allows the holder of the card
immunity for any crime,  Long said.

Hannah said wording problems with the bill could be  fixed after it
passes.

"Anything that we have in the disagreement with Mr.  Long can be
settled by proper channels in the  Legislature," she said.

She said Long could help South Dakotans for Medical  Marijuana instead
of badmouthing the bill.

"If he would only sit down with our organization and  talk about this
wording with us - but he hasn't done  that," she said. "But he's been
very successful in  using the wording to scare South Dakotans into
thinking  his way."

One of the sponsors of the bill, Hermosa resident Bob  Newland, said
wording was inadvertently left out.

"The word 'for any act committed pursuant to this act'  should have
been put at the end of that sentence,"  Newland said.

Long said he is not interested in fixing the bill in  the legislature,
especially since the fix couldn't be  done until next summer, when the
session closes.

"What are we going to do between November and July?" he
asked.

He doesn't believe that a mistake was made in drafting  the
bill.

"I'm not willing to give them the benefit of saying  that they over
drafted it by accident," Long said. "I  think it was carefully drafted
by someone who knew  exactly what they were doing to make it look like
this  was a tightly controlled, regulated system that would  allow
people with serious medical conditions to use  marijuana."

Other points of controversy in the bill have included  the severity of
illnesses covered under the bill.

"You're supposed to have a debilitating medical  condition," Long
said. "They list a lot of serious  ones. But it says any condition
that causes chronic  pain."

Long said chronic pain is too broad.

"How many people are going to take advantage of that?"  he
asked.

Hannah said stipulations in the bill prevent it from  being taken
advantage of.

"First off, you've got to understand the definition of  chronic pain,"
she said. "You've got to be debilitated  for over two years and have
to have an underlying cause  that's not really curable."

"So, if a doctor's being true to himself, he's not  going to write the
person with a sprained ankle or a  backache a recommendation for this
or a certificate for  this," she said.

Siragusa says that M.S. causes her pain on a daily  basis -- pain that
prescription drugs don't help.

"As far as the symptoms, there really isn't as much for  medicines,"
she said.

She said marijuana loosens her up when she wakes up in  the
morning.

"When I wake up, I'm so stiff, I'm almost paralyzed,"  she
said.

Medical marijuana bills have been passed in 11 other  states, Hannah
said.

Long said he has been told Initiated Measure 4 was  crafted after
those bills, which he has not read and  compared with the South Dakota
measure.

Initiated Measure 4 would permit the patient and  caregiver alike to
possess not more than six marijuana  plants and 1 ounce of "usable"
marijuana. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake