Confusion Begins To Surface Over Medical Marijuana

Newport, OR -- Mike Assenberg says he's just the kind of person Oregon's new medical marijuana law was designed to protect.

Disabled since being hit by a baseball bat in 1985, he says he is in constant pain and the marijuana lets him cut down on the painkilling prescription drugs he takes.

He crossed the line when he tried to light up in a pizza parlor but is threatening to sue anyway.

David Mahnke, chief executive officer of Abby's Legendary Pizza, says he sympathizes with people in pain.

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 tiff is an early 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.

In fact, Oregon's medicinal marijuana law expressly forbids smoking the drug in public. And the Americans With Disabilities Act, a federal law, views marijuana as a dangerous and illegal drug.

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 and permits them to possess small amounts.

The Abby's incident arose on New Year's Eve, when Assenberg and his wife went there for 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 need drugs to control pain.

"I'm not interested in arresting people who say they need medicinal marijuana," he said.

But the U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the Americans With Disabilities Act, has no such qualms. To them, marijuana is illegal. Period.

Supporters of Oregon's medicinal marijuana law also say Assenberg has no right to smoke marijuana in public.

"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."

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 a $2 million lawsuit.

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."

Copyright 1999 Associated Press.

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