cannabisnews.com: Sides Argue Legalizing Marijuana at Hearing Sides Argue Legalizing Marijuana at Hearing Posted by FoM on April 21, 2000 at 07:33:59 PT By Ariel R. Frank. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette A man with the virus that causes AIDS accused bureaucrats Thursday of holding up efforts to legalize marijuana for use as medicine. "It's incompassionate to make us get 70,000 signatures so I can get medical treatment," the man, who didn't 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 4,000, 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 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 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 who 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 ban until that scientific evidence is in," he said, adding that legalizing marijuana for medicinal 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 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 Thursday's meeting, said he has collected only 2,000 signatures and supports the alliance's proposal. Published: Friday, April 21, 2000Copyright © 2000, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. 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