Chances Slim for Marijuana Bill
by Michael Ko

January 22, 1998 - The Seattle Times - opnion@seatimes.com

OLYMPIA - They were suffering from AIDS and cancer and massive injuries, and looked out of place amid the coats and ties of the Senate hearing room. But they came anyway, in wheelchairs and supported by canes, to offer their perspectives on life, pain and marijuana.

Ray Gleason of Spokane said he suffered head injuries several years ago while in high school and now smokes pot daily to alleviate the pain and depression.

"I was taking lithium every day and I had to get my blood tested to make sure my heart and my liver wouldn't stop," Gleason told the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee. "I can't see where smoking marijuana is much more dangerous than that."

Despite the emotional testimony of terminally ill patients at Tuesday's public hearing - and the sentiment of the committee chairman himself - it's unlikely a bill to allow the use of medicinal marijuana will go before the Senate this year.

Sen. Alex Deccio, R-Yakima, chairman of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee, said the timing of the bill is bad, coming so soon after November's defeat of Initiative 685. He said the public and the Legislature need to learn more about the issue before Senate Bill 6271 has a realistic chance of passing.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl, D-Seattle, would allow physicians to authorize - and patients to use - marijuana to alleviate suffering caused by serious illnesses, such as cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.

Patients would need the documented permission of a physician and would pay for the marijuana themselves.

The bill comes just two months after state voters overwhelmingly defeated Initiative 685, which would have allowed medical use of marijuana, LSD, heroin and other drugs and decriminalized all nonviolent drugs.

"There is medical value in the use of marijuana," Deccio said after Tuesday's hearing. "Based on the people who spoke here tonight, it's evident that we can't ignore the issue. If the legislators could have been here tonight, I'm sure it would have opened some of their eyes."

Deccio's knowledge of the issue extends back to 1979, when he urged lawmakers to support a study on medicinal marijuana. Four years earlier, he watched his 24-year-old daughter suffer the pain and nausea of intense chemotherapy before she died of cancer.

"This is a subject close to me," he said. "I can't be scared off politically because it is a political hot potato. I have firsthand knowledge and so I'm obligated to do something about it."

Many legislators and opponents of the bill say they would like more clinical research done before approving the medicinal use of marijuana.

"We can wait around and do more research. I advocate it," Kohl said in response. "But we need to be able to provide access to people who are suffering now. We can't make criminals out of gravely ill people."

Legislators and Gov. Gary Locke would also like to have a clear method for distributing medicinal marijuana.

Kohl's bill does not address marijuana distribution. She would have terminally ill patients "get it where they can get it." Although she acknowledges this isn't the safest method, she thinks marijuana is easily accessible among people who are seriously ill.

The bill seems to be dead for now, but Kohl has a few more weeks to file bills with the committee. She said she will work on the issue until then, modifying the language and perhaps reintroducing it.

Dr. Rob Killian, the Tacoma-based physician who sponsored I-685, has said if the bill fails in the Legislature, he will indeed gather signatures for another initiative.

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