PANE TO TOUT MERITS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The head of Serento Gardens Alcoholism & Drug Services will appear
before Pennsylvania lawmakers this week to speak in favor of medical
marijuana.

Ed Pane, president and chief executive officer of the Hazleton
organization, said he'll deliver testimony Wednesday when the House
of Representatives' Health and Human Services Subcommittee holds its
first hearing on House Bill 1393, the Compassionate Use Medical
Marijuana Act.

"These hearings on medical marijuana are the first of their kind" in
Pennsylvania, Pane said.

Pane said he supports the use of marijuana as medicine only - and not
as a recreational drug.

"My testimony is several pages," he said, noting he pulled
information from scholarly research - all of which is cited and
endorsed. "My specific area is to dispel the myth that this is a
gateway drug to other drugs - that the medical use of it would lead
to a spate of other addictions."

Pane was one of the first drug and alcoholism counselors to publicly
support marijuana's medical use, but noted there is "tremendous"
support among the majority of addiction counselors.

Pane said that about 20 other drug and alcoholism counselors from
across the state will travel to the Capitol to speak in favor of the
drug's use. In addition to those representing the clinical end,
patients who have used medical marijuana will be there, too.

Pane isn't sure how lawmakers will react.

"It's an interesting subcommittee," he said. "It's a mixed bag. One
or two members are completely and adamantly opposed."

House Bill 1393, sponsored by Majority Caucus Chairman Mark B. Cohen,
was introduced to the House on April 29. The legislation, if passed,
would allow registered patients to purchase marijuana through
"compassion centers."

According to text in the bill, "Modern medical research has
discovered a beneficial use for marijuana in treating or alleviating
the pain or other symptoms associated with certain debilitating
medical conditions, as found by the National Academy of Sciences'
Institute of Medicine in March 1999."

Under the bill, those with "debilitating medical conditions" like
cancer, glaucoma, AIDS or chronic pain would be permitted to use
marijuana to treat symptoms including pain and nausea. The patients
would need approval from a doctor, who would assess the patient's
medical history and find that the "medical use of marijuana would
likely outweigh the health risks for the qualifying patient and would
likely be superior to treatment without the medical use of
marijuana," according to the bill.

Marijuana sales would be taxed, and those using the drug with a
doctor's approval would not be arrested or penalized, the bill states.

"Although federal law currently prohibits the use of marijuana, the
laws of Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and
Washington permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and in
Arizona doctors are permitted to prescribe marijuana. Pennsylvania
joins this effort for the health and welfare of its citizens," the
bill states.