Pubdate: Sat, 9 Jan 1999
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Contact:  1320 SW Broadway Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Copyright: 1999 The Oregonian
Author: Patrick O'Neill of The Oregonian staff

MAN SAYS HE WILL SUE OVER MEDICAL POT

* The Threat Comes After A Newport Pizza Parlor Tells The Man, Who Is
Disabled From Being Hit With A Bat, He Can't Light Up In The Restaurant

Mike Assenberg is outraged that he was forbidden to smoke marijuana in a
Newport pizza parlor.

Assenberg, disabled since 1985 when he was hit with a baseball bat, says
he's just the kind of person Oregon's new medicinal marijuana law was
designed to protect. He's in constant pain, he says, and marijuana makes it
possible for him to cut down on the amount of painkilling prescription
drugs he takes.

David Mahnke, chief executive officer of Abby's Legendary Pizza, says he
sympathizes with people in pain. In fact, he voted for Measure 67, which
removed state criminal penalties for using medicinal marijuana.

But as for smoking it in Abby's?

"It's absolutely forbidden," Mahnke said. "I don't think it's a good idea
for small children, sitting in a family restaurant, to be around people
smoking medicinal marijuana."

The Assenberg-Abby's tiff is the first public indication of confusion over
the meaning of the new law.

Assenberg has threatened to sue Abby's, claiming that both the state law
and the Americans With Disabilities Act guarantee him the right to smoke
marijuana in public to relieve his pain.

In fact, Oregon's medicinal marijuana law expressly forbids smoking the
drug in public places. Under the law, anyone who does so loses the law's
protections against prosecution. And the Americans With Disabilities Act, a
federal law, views marijuana as a dangerous and illegal drug, unprotected
by the act.

Lt. Edward A. Herbert of the Portland Police Bureau's Drugs and Vice
Division said there doesn't seem to be a rush to abuse the medicinal
marijuana law. People who are caught with small amounts of marijuana hardly
ever assert a medical right to use the drug, he said.

Herbert said Portland police probably come into contact with people who
have marijuana in their possession "one to two dozen times a day."

"Maybe a lot of these people we're encountering aren't following the issue
in the papers real thoroughly," he said.

The law, passed by Oregon voters in November, allows people who have
certain medical conditions, including severe pain, to use marijuana to
relieve their symptoms. The law exempts qualified users of medicinal
marijuana from state criminal laws against possession and use of small
amounts of marijuana.

The threatened lawsuit arose from an incident on New Year's Eve, when
Assenberg and his wife visited Abby's to have dinner. Assenberg, a Waldport
resident, said he asked the manager for permission to smoke medicinal
marijuana and was refused. Assenberg then called Newport police to report a
violation of his rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Police officers interviewed him and did not arrest him for possession of
marijuana.

Jim Rivers, Newport police chief, said he's not sure of all of the details
of the law.

"I personally haven't read a full draft of it," he said. "I think we
handled the call as responsibly and professionally as possible."

Rivers, like Mahnke, said he has sympathy for people who are in so much
pain that they have to take drugs.

"The man said he was in grave pain," the police chief said. "I'm not
interested in arresting people who say they need medicinal marijuana."

The Newport Police Department's policy stands in stark contrast to that of
the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Justice Department, which oversees the Americans With Disabilities Act,
is unequivocal in its assessment of marijuana as an illegal drug.

Liz Savage, spokeswoman for the agency, said the act "makes no provision
for people who take illegal drugs." And under federal law, marijuana is an
illegal drug, she said.

Supporters of Oregon's medicinal marijuana law also say Assenberg has no
right to smoke marijuana in public under either state or federal laws.

"When we wrote the law, we considered this issue," said Goeff Sugerman,
spokesman for Oregonians for Medical Rights. "We wrote the law so that it
very clearly states that using medicinal marijuana in public places is not
allowed."

Sugerman said the restaurant management "handled themselves admirably" in
denying Assenberg's request.

Assenberg, 38, says he's been in too much pain to hold a steady job since
1985. His hobby, he said, is helping to locate missing children through a
computer bulletin board he operates. He said he has offered Mahnke a
choice: Settle for $2,000, the amount needed to buy a new computer, or face
being sued for $2 million.

Mahnke, whose Roseburg-based company owns or operates 35 pizza restaurants,
recalls the conversation: "I told him he wouldn't be getting a new
computer." 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake