Senate health committee to discuss medical conditions as defense
By James Carlson
The Capital-Journal
Published Monday, February 11, 2008
A Senate health committee will hear testimony today on a bill that
would allow certain medical conditions as a defense against
prosecution for marijuana possession.
Under the Kansas Medical Marijuana Act, people with a debilitating
disease could present to the judge a "written certification" from
their doctor attesting to the relief marijuana provides.
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"(This bill) doesn't legalize marijuana, it doesn't decriminalize it,"
said Laura Green, director of Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition. "It
just allows a person who has a serious debilitating medical condition
who gets arrested for marijuana to bring it up to a court."
Jon Hauxwell, a physician from Hays, will testify in favor of the
bill. He used to work on a reservation in Montana where he dealt with
substance abuse issues. He said he understands the opposition to this
bill, but he added that the medical community has never allowed those
who abuse a drug to deter doctors from prescribing it to patients in
need. He listed morphine and Ritalin as other legally prescribed drugs
to which patients can get addicted.
"We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater," Hauxwell said.
Former Attorney General Robert Stephan, a cancer survivor himself,
also will testify in favor of the bill. In August, he came out in
favor of legalizing the drug for medical use.
He said at the time he believes "the state should not pre-empt the
role of the physician when it comes to deciding what is best for ill
Kansans."
The legislation defines a debilitating condition as "cancer, glaucoma,
positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune
deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic" or any other condition
that causes a host of debilitating symptoms.
Current law doesn't allow judges or juries to consider a medical
condition when prescribing punishment for possession of the drug.
"You can't even mention it," Hauxwell said.
The bill faces an uphill battle in a state wary of legislation that
even smells like marijuana legalization. Senate Health Care Strategies
Committee member Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka, opposed the
introduction of the bill. She said there was no way of standardizing
dosages of marijuana.
And committee chairwoman Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, who is in
remission from stage four non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and whose son
survived leukemia, said in a recent article about medical marijuana
that there are other drugs on the market that work.
