Senate Hearing in Irvine Airs Conflicts on Marijuana Initiative

On one side are those who are HIV-positive or suffer from glaucoma, cancer, sickle cell anemia or other illnesses.

Smoking marijuana, they say, helps alleviate their excruciating pain. They want voters in November to pass Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative.

On the other side are mostly law enforcement officials who counter that passage of the initiative would just legalize marijuana and hamstring their efforts to prosecute users and dealers of the drug.

Friday, the advocates and opponents of Proposition 215 pleaded their case to state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) in a joint hearing of the California Senate Health and Human Services Committee and Senate Committee on Criminal Procedure.

The hearing chaired by Watson at the McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium on the UC Irvine campus was open to the public, but it was attended mostly by those who have long been vocal on the issue.

The obvious controversial nuances of the initiative aside, Proposition 215 has pitted doctor against doctor and even, in some instances, police officer against police officer.

The initiative would be beneficial, said San Francisco Dist. Atty. Terrence Hallinan, because it would show that “we are a compassionate society.”

Not so, countered Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi. It’s merely a smoke screen for those who would abuse it, he said, and its authors wrote it under a “marijuana haze.”

The initiative would allow Californians to grow and smoke pot for medical purposes if prescribed by a doctor.

Proponents see it as a humane and inexpensive way to help those suffering from chronic terminal sickness. They say marijuana eases the wasting effects of AIDS and cancer by relieving nausea and increasing appetite. They also say it relieves eye pressure caused by glaucoma and can provide pain relief and medical benefits for other illnesses.

Richard Eastman was found to have acquired immune deficiency syndrome two years ago. The 43-year-old said smoking marijuana gives him an appetite, which is suppressed by the 30 pills he takes daily for his illness.

Sean Howell, 27, also has AIDS. “By taking a hit of marijuana,” whenever he felt nauseous, he told Sen. Watson, he was able to eat enough to enable him to regain most of the 40 pounds he has lost.

Opponents of Proposition 215 say they’re not against compassion. They’re against what they see as “loopholes” in the initiative.

“This particular proposition, initiative, is a hoax,” said Michael Meyers, a family practice physician who also specializes in addictive medicine. “If the intent of this was to provide a compassionate marijuana use to the terminally and critically ill, it should have been written that way.”

As it is, he and other opponents said, the initiative is too loosely written and would make it easier to obtain for minors, a group in which drug usage is currently rising.

Watson agreed that she also sees legal loopholes in Proposition 215, as written. However, the senator said, she believes “they are certainly correctable.”

“The one thing I’m compelled by is the people who are suffering at the current time,” Watson told the speakers. “Those of us who are healthy . . . can sit by and say, ‘Oh, pooh-pooh, it sends the wrong message to people.’ ”

“I think [the initiative] is written with flaws and would have to be fine-tuned,” Watson added. “But I see a greater message here and the greater message is that scientific medicine is not the answer alone. There are other ways of treating people.”