Pubdate: Sunday, 6 September1998
Source: The Delaware State News (Dover) 
Contact:  
Website: http://www.newszap.com/
Author: Tom Eldred, Staff writer
Note: Tom Eldred can be reached at 302-741-8212 or at  

POT LEGALIZATION TOUGH ISSUE FOR DELAWARE

DOVER - Should marijuana be legalized for medical use? Like many
controversial issues, it depends on who's talking.

One side claims ''pot'' has positive therapeutic medicinal value for an
array of diseases, including cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis,
depression and AIDS.

On the other side are the federal government, most state governments and
many people who strongly believe any change in current regulations will
only increase public dependency on a drug that they deem dangerous,
unhealthy and evil.

At issue is whether marijuana - which was actually legal in the United
States until 1937 - should be reclassified from a Schedule I drug (possibly
addictive, with no medical use) to a Schedule II drug (possibly addictive,
with medical use) so that it can be legally prescribed by physicians for
medical purposes.

Federal officials staunchly defend the present status, warning that
liberalizing the law could lead to increased drug abuse across the country,
especially among the young. A recent survey by the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America found 44 percent of teenagers say they have already used
marijuana.

Currently - with the exception of recent marijuana-for-medical-use
initiatives passed in California and Arizona, and an Alaska law permitting
possession of small amounts of an ounce or less - possessing and using
natural marijuana is illegal in Delaware and other states.

Dr. Samuel B. Hoff, a political science professor at Delaware State
University, favors a change to permit strictly-controlled marijuana use,
specifically for medical purposes.

''The exception should be for those who can document the medical need for
marijuana,'' Dr. Hoff said. ''There are obvious advantages to medical
marijuana. Because its use is certainly valid, it would have to be
prescribed legally through doctors.''

Dr. Hoff pointed to the irony of a now-defunct federal program, initiated
in 1975, that provided select patients with legal marijuana for medical
purposes. Although the program was discontinued in 1992, eight Americans,
who were ''grandfathered'' when the program stopped, still receive 300
marijuana cigarettes a month from the federal government.

Dr. Hoff said Delaware's marijuana laws probably won't see any substantial
change soon because ''most legislators won't touch that issue with a
10-foot pole,'' mainly due to concerns about crime.

''It really is going to take some courageous and forward-looking
individuals,'' Dr. Hoff said. ''But at the same time, people shouldn't have
to go to Alaska the get the drug necessary to alleviate their pain.''

Capt. Raymond W. Hancock is commanding officer of the Delaware State Police
Criminal Investigation Unit. As he spoke last week, troopers were unveiling
a giant 72-pound marijuana stash confiscated along Interstate 95 in New
Castle County. The supply, Capt. Hancock said, has a wholesale value of
$115,000.

''We are against any legalization of marijuana in the state,'' Capt.
Hancock said. ''We stand behind the existing Delaware marijuana laws.''

Heidi A. VanGilst, 21, is a case manager for AIDS Delaware in Wilmington,
an organization offering free and confidential testing at seven locations
in New Castle County, as well as a statewide hotline.

''I don't see a lot of clients using marijuana,'' Ms. VanGilst said.
''Marijuana is a starter drug that leads to stronger drugs. We don't
encourage marijuana use because we don't want clients going on to other
drugs. We like them to see their doctors and we like to see their doctors
prescribe other drugs.''

She said many of her contacts in the medical community also express fears
that any liberalization of current marijuana laws could easily lead to
other addictions, such as crack cocaine and heroin.

''I personally have never used marijuana,'' Ms. VanGilst said. ''My fear
would be that it would be used for other purposes. Where would the legality
lead to?''

But Nolan W. Brinkley, 47, an outreach specialist for AIDS Delaware,
offered a different analysis.

''I've been a recovering person for nine years after 25 years of drug use,
so what I'm saying may be considered a bit radical,'' Mr. Brinkley said.
''But I'm inclined to say - if it helps prolong a life, I think it's OK. If
everything else has failed, who am I to be judgmental?''

He said he's worked with AIDS patients during the past four-and-a-half
years who list marijuana as a vital component of their treatments. ''I've
seen where the other drug therapies, the drug ''cocktails'', just didn't
work,'' he said. ''Even as a recovering person, I'd vote to for that kind
of legalization. I don't see anything in my personal beliefs against that.''

Richard J. Schimelfenig of Wilmington is president of the Delaware Cannabis
Society and the Delaware chapter of National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws. He's a self-described ''activist.''

Mr. Schimelfenig, 47, has glaucoma. He also has bone spurs on his feet and
spine, along with chronic back pain and spasms from an accident when he was
17.

''I started using marijuana when I was younger for recreational purposes,''
Mr. Schimelfenig said. ''When I was diagnosed with glaucoma in 1988, I
found prescription medications caused more problems than they were solving.
On the other hand, I was able to get through the whole day after smoking a
joint.''

As part of his personal battle to make therapeutic marijuana legal, he
joined approximately 200 other plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed
this summer against the federal government in U.S. District Court in
Philadelphia. The lawsuit claims laws regulating marijuana are
unconstitutional and that citizens should be free to use marijuana for
health purposes without control or interference by the government.

He's also helping to organize a ''medical marijuana march'' scheduled to
kick off in Boston Oct. 3 and pass through Newark Oct. 31.

''We're trying to get the public to realize that it's not a war on drugs,''
Mr. Schimelfenig said. ''It's a war on users.''

Attorney General M. Jane Brady is the top law enforcement officer in
Delaware. The responsibility of the Attorney General's Office, she said, is
to prosecute those who break the law - even if an individual breaks the law
because he's convinced it's a medical necessity.

''If he wishes to use marijuana for medical purposes, he needs to get the
law changed to permit that,'' Ms. Brady said.

Mark A. Meister, executive director of the Medical Society of Delaware,
said the society has not taken a stand on the issue. ''We don't have a
formal position on it as a medical society,'' Mr. Meister said. ''But I
would say physicians in Delaware don't tend to recognize the therapeutic
value of marijuana.''

Dr. Susan Szabo, medical director of the HIV program at the Christiana Care
Center at Christiana Hospital, pointed out the legal alternative to
marijuana - a synthetic derivative called Marinol - has proved successful
as an element of AIDS therapy.

''We use it not as a treatment, but as an adjunctive, to control nausea and
weight loss,'' she said. ''However, with the newer, more-potent therapies
available now, weight loss is not as great as it was in the past.''

Dr. Szabo acknowledged she's heard some patients say Marinol is not as
effective or quick-acting as natural marijuana.

Would she favor legalization under strict medical guidelines?

''I think it is a very difficult issue, a societal issue,'' she said. ''But
if it were legalized, I think I would use it, under strictly-controlled
circumstances, as a drug of intervention. The active substance (of
marijuana) does have some medical value.''

Dover attorney Barry W. Meekins represents Townsend resident Randy Powell,
an AIDS patient who has been arrested three times for violating the state's
marijuana law. Mr. Meekins called the law a ''major piece of hypocrisy.''

''These people are in a fight for their lives,'' Mr. Meekins said. ''These
people want to live. This is not a Jack Kevorkian-type program. This is a
fight for life. I am anti-drug. I do not smoke, I do not drink. I don't
even take aspirin. But I'm pro-life too. If a person is in a fight for
their life, I'm not going to throw out the first rock.''

The hypocrisy, Mr. Meekins said, lies within a society that permits - and
often promotes - other so-called ''evils'' to exist, with mere strokes from
lawmakers' pens - but continues to legislate, and prosecute, people who
believe they need marijuana to save their lives.

''What about your booze in college?'' he asked. ''Your crime was OK, wasn't
it? Was it for your amusement? Your coming of age? Randy Powell wants to
live, so he smokes marijuana. His 'crime' is a desire to see the sun come
up tomorrow.

''Politics is the business of whores . . . That's exactly what's going on
here. It's like asking someone on board the sinking Titanic for a passport.''

Finally, Mr. Meekins referred to the Constitution: 'Life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.'

''What great societal harm is Randy Powell doing to deny him his right to
life?'' Mr. Meekins asked. ''Where is the horrendous moral tragedy here? Is
it because others abuse it? Is that why we legislate against it? We tried
that once with alcohol, didn't we?''
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Checked-by: Richard Lake