REEFER POLITICS

It sometimes happens in an election year that politicians will do the right
thing for the wrong reasons. Such, hopefully, will be the case with
Vermont's medical marijuana initiative.

The Vermont House of Representatives did the right thing last month when it
passed the bill sponsored by Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, that would
set up a system for desperately ill people to ease their pain with
marijuana without fear of prosecution.

Zuckerman's bill, which would effectively give certifiably ill people with
a note from their doctor a license to possess, grow and smoke marijuana,
received support from all three political parties in a chamber dominated by
the Republicans. Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Margaret Flory,
R-Pittsford, hardly a bleeding heart liberal, was apparently persuaded by
the testimony of sick people in her committee; she gave a stirring speech
on the House floor in support of the measure.

More support came from another unlikely quarter: state's attorneys
reportedly have indicated they wouldn't prosecute these cases if it were
shown that the marijuana user was using the drug for legitimate medicinal
purposes.

Still, the House bill's prospects looked dim, with Gov. Howard Dean
standing on his Hippocratic Oath and saying he'd reconsider if the Food and
Drug Administration were to declare marijuana safe and therapeutic.
Translation: When pigs fly. The Senate, meanwhile, said it was much too
busy to consider it.

Things have changed since reports trickled back to the State House that a
key constituency in Dean's putative presidential bid, gay activists in
California concerned for AIDS sufferers, had asked him to reconsider. And
then Anthony Pollina, Progressive candidate for lieutenant governor,
weighed in on behalf of the bill. This left Senate President Pro Tempore
Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, who also wants to be lieutenant governor, caught
between a threat to his left and the governor's intransigence on his right.

Shumlin, who vehemently denies that he ever thinks about Pollina, and
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Sears, D-Bennington, have come
up with a scheme to pass the governor's test: Allow marijuana defendants to
enter an affirmative defense to a possession charge - yes, I use marijuana
but I do it only to ease my suffering, and here's my doctor to tell you
about my symptoms, your honor. Meanwhile, the governor made some cryptic
utterances at a press conference that led some to speculate that the pig
might be taking pilot lessons.

The Senate bill is political cover for those who need it. It allows Dean to
seem compassionate without actually legalizing marijuana, allows Shumlin to
be liberal but not weak-kneed. But it doesn't offer the protection of the
House bill - people who suffer from multiple sclerosis, cancer, AIDS,
glaucoma and other debilitating illnesses, or their caregivers, would still
be forced to buy the drug from a dealer, that is, illegally.

The House bill is a compassionate, responsible piece of legislation - it
redresses the pointless cruelty of denying marijuana to desperately ill
people without lifting the ban on recreational use. Enacting it into law
would only increase Vermont's national reputation as a kind, caring and
tolerant state. This is the bill that should pass, whether for the right
reasons or the wrong ones, this session or next, one way or another.