From: [n c nor m l] at [aol.com] (NCNorml)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Ohio's Shortest Marijuana Law
Date: 25 Mar 1997 14:09:38 GMT

Ohio's Shortest Marijuana Law By John M. Hartman

 Well all hell broke out this last November when Governor Voinovich and
Attorney General Montgomery discovered Ohio's new medical marijuana
defense law.  They each took an oath in blood to have it repealed when the
Ohio General Assembly returned for business in January.
 We started to prepare for the upcoming battle over this issue in early
December.  The problem that we were facing was we couldn't line up any
expert testimony until a bill was introduced into the Ohio General
Assembly and assigned to a committee.  The earliest we could get this
information was January 14th.  We needed to give our experts at least two
weeks notice.  January 14th came and we found out a bill was introduced. 
On January 15th we found out we needed to get our expert in on Jan. 29th
or Feb. 5th.  I spent the next week trying to get Dr. Lester Grinspoon or
Dr. John P. Morgan to testify.  The best I could do with Grinspoon was to
talk with his secretary and couldn't even get a response from Morgan. 
They were both out of town and had other commitments.  I was getting
really pressed.  We had coordinated patients, activists and concerned
citizens to testify at the upcoming hearings in the Senate.  But this
would add up to only marijuana users talking about marijuana as a folk
medicine if we didn't have an expert to testify.  We  needed a doctor to
back up our medical claims and not just any doctor would do.  This doctor
had to be a super expert on the issue of marijuana as a medicine.  We were
just about out of time when the phone rang at the NORML office.  I
answered it and a voice said, "Hi, I'm Doctor Ungerleider, I want to
testify for NORML about this repeal of the new Ohio law."  What luck!  Dr.
Ungerleider was visiting family in Toledo when he saw an article in the
Toledo Blade about Ohio's new medical marijuana defense law.  Boy was I
relieved!  Finally a doctor out of the blue and not just any doctor.  Dr.
Ungerleider had conducted medical research on marijuana in the oral and
smoked forms and he even served on President Nixon's Commission on
Marijuana and Drug Abuse.  The only thing was, he wasn't available to
testify before the Senate.  But he was available to testify before the
House committee. When you're at the end of your rope, you take advantage
of any opportunity and count your lucky stars.
 Later that same day we finally did hook up with Dr. Grinspoon, thanks to
the efforts of Dennis Day, and arranged for Dr. Grinspoon to testify
before the Senate Judiciary committee.
 We found out that the first hearing was on Jan. 22nd and that the bill
was titled Senate Bill 2.  It was introduced by Ohio Senator Louis
Blessing of Cincinnati.
 At the first hearing on Senate Bill 2 we found out several things from
proponent testimony.  The objections to the medical marijuana defense law
by Senator Blessing were lame, to say the least.  He claimed there would
be increased usage because marijuana was the gateway drug, wondered what
message this would send to children and he asked where were the patients
going to fill their 
 prescriptions?  He answered his own question by saying, "with their local
pot dealer?"
 John Murphy made me sick with his testimony supporting Senate Bill 2.  
Speaking for the Ohio County  Prosecutor's Association, John Murphy really
made fun of the whole medical marijuana issue.  He used terms like pot
heads and always referred to patients in condescending terms.  But the
worst testimony came from Dr. Paul Leihart of the Ohio Board of Medicine. 
Dr. Leihart is just the type of doctor that has sold his soul to the
devil, oopps, I mean the government, and marches right with the
prohibitionists.  His still believes marijuana destroys brains cells.  He
told the Senate Judiciary Sub-committee that within six months, a human
brain could be destroyed by marijuana and marijuana had no medical value. 
I really don't think any of the committee members (but who really knows)
believed these horror stories.  All I knew was that convincing this
committee was going to be hard enough without this doctor throwing up a
smoke screen and fogging up the issue with misinformation.
 Attorney Dennis Day of Columbus opened the opponent testimony on Senate
Bill 2.  It was a real joy to here Mr. Day speak and I can see why he is
such a good trial lawyer.  Northcoast NORML, Sandusky County NORML, For a
Better Ohio and other friends and allies all presented testimony to the
Senate Judiciary Sub-committee and we did a real good job of it with one
exception.  We had a full array of patients to testify - John Precup,
Daniel Asbury, Don Hamilton, Daniel Flint and  Eleanor Ahrens.
 The testimony was going just as we planned until Kenny Schweichart of For
a Better Ohio decided to verbally attack the committee and put us on the
spot with one of the worst presentations I have ever heard.  People were
almost running from the committee room during his presentation.
 Fortunately, not all was lost because of Kenny's antics and we still had
one more hearing the next week.
 I think at this point I must express that things were moving very fast. 
Here in Cleveland and in Columbus, we were trying to mobilize our base of
supporters and get out mailings, phone zaps, fly in witnesses, while
dealing with the press and the activities at the Statehouse.  The media
was going mad with interest and the first day's opponent's testimony made
front page coverage in the Cleveland Plain Dealer with a large picture of
Jean Taddie and her friend John Precup (an MS patient) both waiting to
testify before the Senate Judiciary Sub-committee.
 The Subcommittee just rubber stamped Senate Bill 2 and referred it back
to the full Senate Judiciary Committee.   The next hearing was scheduled
the following week and this would be our last chance to stop or amend
Senate Bill 2 in the committee process before in went to the full Senate
for consideration.
 Northcoast NORML had arranged to fly in Lester Grinspoon, M.D. from
Harvard University.   The opposition was really worried and brought back
Doctor 'Marijuana Kills Brain Cells' Leihart.
 Dr. Leihart's testimony was just more of the same government
misinformation and when Dr. Lester Grinspoon testified, he informed the
committee that there wasn't one ounce of truth in Dr. Leihart's testimony.
 Dr. Grinspoon was brilliant with his presentation and I have it all on
video.  So if anyone wants a copy let me know and we will work something
out.
 I guess the whole deal in the Senate was a done deal. Before the
Judiciary Committee had even voted the bill out of the committee, the
Senate had scheduled Senate Bill 2 for a vote in the full Senate.  This
was really a slap in the face.  What had happened was the Ohio Senate
(that is mostly Republicans) was given its marching orders by the Governor
and the Attorney General.  I must admit that it was a horrible defeat with
the Senate voting 30 to 3 to pass the bill.
 But this wasn't a reason to lose face and we regrouped for the action
that was going to be played out in the Ohio House of Representatives.
 I was hoping that things would fair better in the Ohio House of
Representatives.  We did start out with more support in the House.  Frank
Sawyer, a Representative from the Mansfield area, came out of the closet
in a story printed in the Mansfield News Journal about helping his sister
obtain marijuana 20 years ago.  I must stress that Representative Sawyer
was very helpful with advice and even attempted to get Senate Bill 2 moved
to the Health & Retirement committee.
 I was the only opponent of Senate Bill 2 
to attend the first hearing in the House.  That hearing was only for the
sponsor of the bill to speak his peace.  Senator Blessing's presentation
to the House Criminal Justice Committee did inform me what his real
objections were to the current medical marijuana defense law.  His first
objection was there was no weight limit on the amount of marijuana. 
Another was that the involvement of a doctor writing a recommendation
would cause the doctor to be brought before the Ohio Medical Board.  The
last objection was there was no time limit to the written recommendation
for the patient.  Senator Blessing did admit in his testimony that he
really did feel for the patients.  So I was delighted that we were
successful in the Senate hearings in one area and were able to touch the
hearts of some Senators, but not enough to change their votes.
 After listening to what Senator Blessing had to say gave me the idea that
we could reach some type of compromise about this issue.  After the
hearing, I went to the Senator's office to talk with him but he was not
in.  I did talk with his aide and scheduled an appointment with the
Senator for the same day as the next hearing on February 25th.
 The 25th came and David Sheets and myself made our early morning drive to
Columbus from Cleveland.  We attended a protest sponsored by NORML and For
a Better Ohio in front of the Statehouse at noon.  The State troopers
quickly kicked us off state property for having information tables without
a permit.  Big deal, we moved the protest and information tables to city
property and went on with the protest.  There was a nice crowd of forty or
fifty supporters and a young lady with a cane came over to talk with me. 
She introduced herself as Mary Miller.  She said that she saw what was
happening from a city bus and had to get off to meet us.  She explained
that she suffers from cerebral palsy and has chronic pain.  Her story
really touched my heart.  She had given up on all pain medications because
they zonked her out and that while in Washington state, she had tried
marijuana and it allowed her to walk without as much pain.  She informed
me that she didn't even know where to get any marijuana to help her ease
the pain, but said she would be more then happy to testify for us before
the House Criminal Justice committee.  The rally ended after much public
display with signs and by Kenny for A Better Ohio, Tomas Salazar of
Sandusky County NORML and myself doing some great public speaking from the
soap box.
 We quickly had to get to the hearing and almost everyone at the protest.
including Mary walking with her cane, filed into the Statehouse.  The
hearing room was packed.  All the seats were taken and people were
standing, hugging the walls and standing in the aisle, and there were
still more people in the hallway.
 At this hearing, there would be testimony from both sides of the issue
and the chairman had scheduled two other bills to be discussed before
hearing testimony on Senate Bill 2.  After about a 1-1/2 hours, the docket
was cleared and discussions began on Senate Bill 2.  The proponents of the
bill would have 
first say on the issue and there was no new ground covered by the
proponents.  Marijuana kills brain cells, what is in the marijuana may be
harmful, marijuana has no medical value, some cripple might smoke pot
while flying a 747 or even worse, the federal government might have a cow!
 No facts or truthful information was presented by the witnesses for the
Ohio Medical Board, The Ohio Association of County Prosecutors or the Ohio
Department of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.
 I had to leave at this point to meet with Senator Louis Blessing.  At
this meeting Senator Blessing opened up to me and said that he was given
direct orders from the Governor that as chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, he would introduce a bill to repeal the medical defense law.  I
could understand the situation he was in.  I mentioned to him that I was
impressed with his testimony to the House Criminal Justice Committee and I
felt there may be some type of compromise that we could reach in the form
of an amendment that would overcome all his objections he had to the
current law.  We discussed NORML's amendment which would remove the
doctor's written recommendation from the Ohio revised code and instead,
insert language to make it disease specific.  I also informed him that you
can't use the affirmative defense in Ohio as a defense for any amount of
marijuana over 600 grams, so this resolved the weight issue.  We hashed
about several other ideas and I think he was really trying to come up with
something that would work and to help us with, but one idea only seem to
create more problems.  In the end, he told me he didn't care what happened
in the House, and if the House attached NORML's compromise amendment to
Senate Bill 2 he would not oppose the amendment when it came back to his
committee in the Senate.  That was enough for me and I left his office
overwhelmed with new hopes that the medical marijuana defense may be saved
after all.
 Returning to the hearings, it was my time to testify.  I basically
reviewed the history of how the medical marijuana defense law was included
into the original vehicle legislation that was signed into law.  I
presented several affidavits from doctors that testified at the DEA
hearings in 1988 for the rescheduling of marijuana, gave a brief
historical presentation on the use of marijuana as a medicine and
submitted several studies and reports.  I closed with giving the committee
testimony about editorial comments by most major and several county
newspapers in Ohio and some survey information on public opinion and asked
them to amend the legislation with NORML's amendment.
 The next wittiness was Dr. Paul Robinson from the Mansfield area.  We met
Dr. Robinson at the Senate hearings when he testified about the experience
he had when his son who suffered from the side effects of a bone marrow
transplant and chemotherapy to treat his childhood leukemia (the good news
is his son survived and is living a full and productive life).  Though Dr.
Robinson's son never used marijuana to treat the side effects of the
medical treatments for the leukemia, he explained how conventional
medicines did nothing to relieve the nausea and vomiting his son
experienced and there was nothing that could be done to stop the rapid
loss of body weight that his son suffered from.  The point the good doctor
wanted to make to the committee was that current medications to treat
nausea and vomiting don't work for many patients.  If marijuana would help
his son and he had to do it all over again, he would go out a find some
marijuana to help his son.  Unfortunately halfway through Dr. Robinson's
testimony the chairman interrupted him to adjourn the committee meeting. 
The chairman would let Dr. Robinson complete his testimony at the next
hearing.
 We did conduct several phone zaps during February and March.  Tina and
Matt came into the NORML office and gave their time to call all NORML
members in Cuyahoga County and to encourage them to make phone calls.  We
also conducted a phone survey of 100 households in Cuyahoga County about
the medical marijuana issue.  We combined these phone zaps and mailings
with a radio advertising campaign in the Columbus area.  We got a great
deal on ad rates on a new Columbus radio rock station and spent about
$1,700 on the ads that encouraged concerned citizens to call the governor
or attend the protest rally at the Statehouse.
 The next hearing was held on March 4th and the day started with another
protest at noon in front of the Statehouse.  It was a sunny day and again,
there was a good crowd of people.  Drivers honked their car horns in
support of the protest as they drove by and Kenny, Tomas and myself did
our speeches from a soap box.
 At the hearing we presented our heavyweight witness Dr. J. Thomas
Ungerleider from the UCLA Medical Center.  Dr. Ungerleider was excellent
and overcame every objection that members of the committee raised.  After
he was done there could be no one on the committee that could doubt that
marijuana really does have medical value.
 Daniel Asbury was next to testify.  Thanks to Sandusky County NORML for
paying for his transportation.  Daniel is a quadriplegic and is wheelchair
bound so their would have been no way for him to make the hearings
(considering his disability and his limited income) if it wasn't for
Sandusky County NORML.  It is hard to feel sorry for Daniel because he is
such a strong willed person and gets around pretty good in his motorized
wheelchair.  But this day he didn't have his motorized wheelchair and was
pushed in by his traveling companion which made him look more helpless. 
Daniel didn't ask for pity from the committee and only asked them to
understand his situation.  I can hardly listen to the testimony of
patients anymore without getting teary eyed.  So I more or less focused on
video taping Daniel and tried to think of other things to keep the tears
from flowing in public.  Damn these elected officials!  I can't understand
how any person could listen to the testimony of someone like Daniel Asbury
and not say 'screw the Governor and battleship Betty!  I'm voting from my
heart!'
 Eleanor Ahrens was next to testify and she explained to the committee how
her arrest along with her husband Ted had destroyed them financially. 
After spending $10,000 in lawyer's fees and the threat of having their
home seized by the State of Ohio, they were both forced to plead guilty to
3rd degree felonies, and all because Ted was growing marijuana for
personnel use and to help supply his wife with the marijuana she needed to
treat her epilepsy.  Eleanor in her testimony also explained the addiction
problem she had with the approved government dope that her doctors were
giving her.  She explained that she was also allergic to the sesame oil in
the Marinol capsule.  So even if she could convince a doctor to give her
the legal marijuana pills, they wouldn't do her any good in treating her
epilepsy because of the oil.  I have to really hand it to Eleanor and Ted,
for they are both awaiting sentencing.  It could have been real easy for
them to cop out and say they couldn't be at the hearings and Eleanor could
have kept her mouth shut like most people do even when they aren't looking
at one of Ohio's fancy new prisons as their future home for the next year
or so.
 We had a traffic jam with the crowded hearing room and the wheelchairs. 
John Precup rolled in on his wheelchair and we rolled Daniel Asbury out. 
John was featured on the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer when he
testified at the Senate hearings in February and did a special news
segment for Channel 19 (CBS) in Cleveland (I believe the story was carried
statewide).  Anyway, John had spent a lot of time researching and
documenting his testimony and he did an 
excellent job of challenging the committee members to justify repealing
the medical marijuana defense.  We did get another couple witnesses to
testify before Chairman James Mason said that we would just have to
schedule another hearing to accommodate all the witnesses and that the
committee would meet next Tuesday for the final hearing with a possible
vote on the bill.
 I didn't expect to have the bonus of another hearing so I didn't even
consider finding anymore witnesses.  I did feel that since there was one
more hearing, we should bring in one of the patients that legally receives
marijuana from the Federal Government.  It was arranged to fly in Ms. Elvy
Musikka of Hollywood Florida.  Elvy suffers from Glaucoma and was arrested
in the late 1980's for growing 6 marijuana plants and to her good fortune,
the Florida Supreme Court ruled that her growing of marijuana was a
medical necessity and she was found not guilty.  She is also fortunate
that she was approved to receive marijuana from the feds under the
guidelines of the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program and she
still receives her medicine today from the Federal Government at no cost.
 We didn't have a protest in front of the Statehouse before this last
hearing, but instead started the day with a short protest right in the
rotunda of the Statehouse.  Kenny's troops were to do the protest and
Tomas and I would give moral support.  Anyhow, we were all sitting in the
rotunda waiting for Kenny's people.  The media folks showed up and it was
time for action and no troops.  Kenny was a little lost at what to do and
apologized for no troops.  No big deal I told Kenny.  I told him we would
do a die-in right on the rotunda floor.  Kenny and Scott laid down in the
center of the rotunda and I grabbed a couple of protest signs and Tomas
started his speech.  Just then a group of about twenty high school
students walked into the rotunda touring the capitol.  Tomas told the
crowd that the people laying on the floor represented the thousands of
sick and dying Americas that could benefit from medical marijuana.  It was
at this point I noticed more and more state police entering the rotunda 
The media loved the die-in and got all kinds of great photos and video
footage.  I later heard from Cliff Barrows that the die-in made a news
broadcast in West Virginia.  All of a sudden the protest was over when the
state police moved in and told us to disperse or be arrested.  We complied
with the officer's request and then the trooper spent the next few minutes
explaining that we needed a permit next time and that he was only doing
his job.  I really only have one comment - Only in America!  It was just
at this time that all of Kenny's people came in with Elvy Musikka and we
all went to the hearing.
 This hearing would be a little different.  Chairman Mason made a big deal
about us adding one new wittiness to our list.  He was just being an
asshole as far as I'm concerned and he limited each witness' testimony to
7 minutes.  We had also heard that there may be an amendment offered at
the hearing.  All the witnesses were short and sweet with their testimony.
 By this time we knew that Representative Betty Sutton was going to offer
an amendment.
 Representative Sutton's amendment was very similar to the one NORML
offered to the committee.  The lead advocate against her amendment was
Chairman Mason.  His objections were just the same objections we had heard
before.  He said the law would have too many loopholes, that the marijuana
may be laced with chemicals or other drugs, and that if someone really
wanted a good law, they should put their name on a good piece of
legislation.  I had to admit that the law wasn't very good as laws go. 
But it was the only thing that could keep our sick brothers and sisters
from going to jail and that was good enough for me.
 Chairman Mason called for the vote on the amendment and it was defeated. 
Then Representative C J Prentiss made a recommendation to the committee
that the bill be referred to the Health and Retirement committee.  Rep.
Jeff Jacobson of Dayton shot down this idea.  What really got me mad about
Rep. Jacobson is that he, of all Representatives, hardly spent any time at
any of the hearings.  For him to object to Rep. Prentiss recommendation on
the grounds that the Criminal Justice committee had heard all the medical
testimony really put a sour taste in my mouth.
 The bill was voted out of the committee and went to the full House to be
debated the next day.  Sometime around 5:30 pm on March 12th I called down
to the statehouse pressroom to see what was happening with the bill.  The 
person in the pressroom inform me that there was a close vote to send the
bill to to the Health & Retirement committee and that the House was still
considering what to do.
 I had one final glimmer of hope that this defeat would be adverted, but
within the hour I called back and found out the bill had passed by 64-33. 
This vote was much better then the results in the Senate, but it was still
a defeat.
 I would like to end this overview of the battle to save Ohio's medical
marijuana defense law on a positive note.  Yes, we lost the battle, but we
gave one hell of a fight for justice and everyone that helped should be
proud of their contribution even if it was only a phone call to a
legislator.  I personally would like to thank Tomas Salazar, Daniel
Asbury, Jean Taddie, John Precup, Dennis Day, David Sheets, Daniel Flint,
Mary Miller, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Dr. J. Thomas Ungerleider, the folks at
national NORML, Elvy Musikka, Don Hamilton, Kenny Schweikart and the great
people at For a Better Ohio, Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project
for testifying, Ted & Eleanor Ahrens, Paul Robinson, and all the other
good people that are too numerous to mention for their contribution to the
cause.  We were able to put aside any differences we had to come together
and stand up for what is right.  Because of this we are much stronger
today as a movement then we were before last November.  The marijuana
prohibitionists have been exposed for what they are - heartless, lying
beasts.  They would rather jail the sick and dyeing then let us marijuana
reformers have one victory.
 This whole ordeal has made me more committed to the proposition that we
must end marijuana's prohibition in all forms.  For that will be a day of
compassion.  The day when we can offer freely to our sick and dying
brothers and sisters the medicine they so badly need and let the
prohibitionist be damned!