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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US AR: Sides Argue Marijuana At Hearing
ccguide Saturday 22 Apr 2000 Pubdate: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR) Copyright: 2000 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. Contact: Address: 121 East Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201 Website: http://www.ardemgaz.com/ Forum: http://www.ardemgaz.com/info/voices.html Author: Ariel R. Frank SIDES ARGUE MARIJUANA AT HEARING A man with the virus that causes AIDS accused bureaucrats Thursday of holding up efforts to legalize marijuana for use as a medicine. "It's incompassionate to make us get 70,000 signatures so I can get medical treatment," the man, who did not wish to be identified, told about 20 people at a meeting in Little Rock. The hearing pitted those who support the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes against Dr. Richard Nugent, a state health official who said the drug has potentially dangerous side-effects and should be studied more. Denele Campbell of West Fork represented the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas, a group that is trying to get an initiative legalizing marijuana as medicine on the November ballot. Two law students also spoke at the event, sponsored by the Green Party of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The alliance has until July to gather signatures of at least 56,481 Arkansas registered voters. So far it has 4000, Campbell said before the meeting. If the "Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act" lands on the ballot and passes, Arkansas would become the eighth state to allow the sick to smoke marijuana, she said. Activists in about a dozen other states are trying to get medical marijuana use legalized by voters or legislatures. Campbell, a piano tuner and mother of three, said she entered into the effort last year after a friend died of breast cancer. Wracked with pain from her tumors and nausea from the chemotherapy, the woman obtained marijuana illegally after her doctor recommended it. It relieved her suffering and allowed her to tolerate the intense treatment without taking drugs that knocked her out, Campbell said. "I was outraged," she said. " here's this woman struggling with probably the hardest thing anyone would ever have to face in their whole life, and it's adding insult to injury that she had to worry about getting arrested in order to use it the medication that would help her the most. " The alliance's proposed act is similar to Oregon's law and would allow patients suffering from specific debilitating medical conditions such as cancer and multiple sclerosis to grow and smoke marijuana. The man at the meeting who has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, for example, could take his medical record or a note from his doctor to a county health unit and receive an identification card protecting him from criminal prosecution. Then that he could buy marijuana on the black market -- though Campbell's group does not endorse the practice -- or grow up to six plants a year. The act would also allow a disabled person to designate a caregiver that could grow the marijuana for him. But Nugent, speaking on behalf of the State Department of Health, said marijuana smoke is similar to tobacco smoke in that it contains harmful tar. Patients should use synthetic and legal drugs, like Marinol, until more is known about marijuana's long-term effect on the body or until scientists develop ways to ingest it without the smoke, he said. "I'm only arguing to continue the band until that scientific evidence is in," he said, adding that legalizing marijuana for medical use may hinder efforts to enroll patients in studies, since they would be able to obtain it anyway. Campbell replied that holding off for more research is "cruel" because people on the verge of death just want to feel better and be able to function. "Whether they're going to get cancer in 20 years" doesn't matter she said, adding that drugs like Marinol are extremely expensive. In February, Barry Emigh of North Little Rock said he was also gathering signatures to place on the ballot a constitutional amendment legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes and reducing it the penalties for possession of up to a half ounce. He could not be reached for comment Thursday. A third petition drive led by Glen Schwarz of Little Rock, would reduce the fines for marijuana possession but would not legalize it for medicinal use. Schwarz, who attended a Thursday's meeting, said he has collected only 2000 signatures and supports the alliance's proposal. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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