Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Author: Catherine Strong, Associated Press Writer

WOMAN WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS FACES TRIAL OVER MARIJUANA USE

WASHINGTON - The government's ban on using marijuana for medicinal
purposes will be tested in the nation's capital as a woman suffering
from multiple sclerosis stands trial for lighting a joint in a
congressman's office.

Renee Emry Wolfe said taking a few puffs of marijuana is the only way
she gets relief when her muscles go into spasm from the disease she
has had for two decades.

For Mrs. Wolfe, ``having a joint is like an asthmatic having a
bronchial inhaler,'' said her attorney, Jeff Orchard.

Last Sept. 15, Mrs. Wolfe lighted a marijuana cigarette in the office
of Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., to bring attention to the issue of
medical marijuana.

``This patient has run out of patience,'' Mrs. Wolfe, a 38-year-old
mother of three from Ann Arbor, Mich., said in an interview.

``It's an uphill battle that I'm fighting,'' she said after Superior
Court Judge Anita Josey-Herring set an April 26 trial date. ``I feel
that if I have to talk to every judge in this country to get things
changed, I will.''

Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office here,
said prosecutors are pushing the case because ``possession of
marijuana is against the law'' in the District of Columbia.

There is a growing national debate over the use of marijuana for
medical reasons.

Voters in six states -- California, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada
and Washington -- have approved measures in the last few years
allowing use of marijuana for medical reasons. Congress barred the
District of Columbia from counting of voting results from a similar
ballot initiative last fall.

The New England Journal of Medicine has editorialized in favor of
medical marijuana and the American Medical Association, altering its
policy, voted to urge the National Institutes of Health to support
more research on the subject.

Last fall, Mrs. Wolfe went to McCollum's office to protest his
resolution that day on the House floor, which said marijuana is a
dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for medical
use. McCollum is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's crime
panel.

In his legal argument, Orchard contends that Mrs. Wolfe started to
feel tense when McCollum's aides did not want to talk with her and she
lighted the marijuana cigarette because she felt her symptoms
returning. When she gets attacks, her hands shake and she loses
control of her legs.

However, McCollum aide Shannon Gravitte said she spoke to Mrs. Wolfe.
Gravitte said the incident seemed like a publicity stunt since Mrs.
Wolfe had brought several cameras and a reporter with her.

``She was very calm and almost immediately lit up the joint,'' Ms.
Gravitte said.

Mrs. Wolfe was arrested and spent several hours in jail. Charged with
a misdemeanor, she would face up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine
if convicted.

Prosecutors contend a medical defense does not apply because there was
no immediate danger to Mrs. Wolfe and there was a legal medical
alternative available.

``The evidence overwhelmingly establishes that her real purpose was to
conduct a protest in the United States Capitol in order to publicize
her position regarding the marijuana laws,'' prosecutors wrote in a
legal brief.

Orchard said jail time could hurt her health: ``Right now, she does
not always have to be in a wheelchair. If she does 180 days without
any (marijuana), she will always be in a wheelchair.''
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