MARIJUANA FORUM MEETS IN ROGERS

The seminar was a part of an educational effort to spread the word about
proposed legislation on the medical use of marijuana.

BENTONVILLE -- Playing to a less than packed house at the Rogers Public
Library on Saturday, Delene Campbell, founder of the Alliance for Reform of
Drug Policy in Arkansas and the Drug Policy Education Group Inc., conducted
a seminar on the medical use of marijuana.

"I first became interested in this subject when a friend had been diagnosed
with breast cancer and her doctor prescribed marijuana but warned her that
she could get arrested if she were caught using it," she said. "I felt that
wasn't right."

After much research and reading about the history and uses of marijuana,
she formed the nucleus group that is trying to educate the people of
Arkansas and get enough signatures on petitions to place the proposed
Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act on the ballot.

Dr. Jerome Kassirer, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, is
quoted in one of the brochures distributed by Campbell as saying, "Federal
authorities should rescind their prohibition of the medical use of
marijuana for seriously ill patients, and allow physicians to decide which
patients to treat."

Campbell's two groups are involved in either political action leading to
getting the adoption of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act on the ballot or
in education about the medical benefits of the plant, she said.

"There are 34 states which have enacted laws governing the use of marijuana
as medicinal therapy," she said. The group finally adopted the language
contained in the Oregon Act, which allows doctors to advise patients on the
usefulness of marijuana for their condition.

Under the proposed law, the Arkansas Health Department would issue
identification cards to qualified patients and their caregivers, allowing
them to possess and grow their supply. Patients who are found in violation
of the law's guidelines would be prosecuted under criminal law.

The seminar Saturday in Rogers was a part of the educational effort
Campbell has undertaken to spread the word about the proposed legislation
and to try to find 5,000 people who will get 20 voter signatures calling
for the vote of the people. "We are only required to have some 55,000
signatures," she said. "However, we want to reach 100,000 signatures in
time to be submitted as an initiative petition."

Campbell is expected to have a small information booth at the Benton County
Fair next week.

Group wants to gather 100,000 signatures