MIDWEEK March 1, 2000

     As far as Donald Topping is concerned, the only thing worse than drugs is 
our public policy for dealing with them. 
     "It's obvious that we're losing the war on drugs," says Topping, president of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai‘i. In existence since 1993, the aim of the DPFH is to "bring the discussion of drug policy to the public forum and re-examine and change our failed drugs policies." 
     The first step, Topping says, is to "stop thinking of drug use as a criminal 
act but as a public health concern." At the top of Topping's concerns at the moment is passage of a medical marijuana bill, House Bill 1157. 
     "I'm hopeful," says Topping, former head of the Social Science Research 
Center at the University of Hawaii. "I do know there's more support than 
there has been in the past. At least one legislator has confided that his 
father used marijuana after undergoing chemotherapy for cancer to control the 
severe nausea that goes with chemo." 
     This is not the first attempt to pass a medical marijuana bill in Hawai‘i. 
Last year the bill died in the Judiciary Committee after being passed by the 
Health Committees of both the senate and the house. 
     "The problem then was a lack of support from the Hawai'i Medical Association (HMA) and from law enforcement," Topping says. "I think there is still a lack of support from HMA and law enforcement, but there is also a greater understanding now with the public and members of the Legislature that the use of marijuana for medical purposes is safe and is needed by a sizeable number of people. And right now a lot of patients are either using marijuana and risking arrest or are not using it out of fear of breaking the law." 
     The use of marijuana in treating pain from a variety of ailments has been 
scientifically documented, he says. They include nausea from chemotherapy, 
muscle spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and even AIDS.
     "We don't have any numbers on how many people could benefit from this bill Topping says. "It's a hidden population. But it is a significant number of 
people." Topping also points to several other states that have legalized the 
use of marijuana as a prescription drug — Oregon, Washington, California, Maine and the District of Columbia voted 69% in favor of medical marijuana — as proof that it does not lead to an increase in the recreational use of marijuana. Each of those states, as well as Colorado and Nevada, which also decriminalized marijuana for medical use, did so by placing it on the ballot far voters to decide. "But each of those states has initiative, which Hawai‘i doesn't have," Topping says. "So it's up to the Legislature." 
     But he believes there is widespread support for medical marijuana in Hawai‘i. 
The DPFH recently commissioned a statewide poll conducted by QMark Research of Honolulu. When asked if they favored or opposed a bill that would allow seriously or terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes if 
supported by their medical doctor, 77 percent said that they favored it. 
That's a 14 percent increase from a similar poll conducted two years ago.
(The poll had a plus-or-minus rate of 3 percent.) 
     "What people seem to be saying is that if we have the means to alleviate the suffering of very sick people, let's be compassionate and do it," says Topping. 
     Topping also wants to continue looking at our drug policy. 
     "We keep building prisons to punish drug offenders," Topping says. "At least one-third of Hawaii inmates are there for drug violations. In federal 
prisons it's 60 percent. Meanwhile there continues to be an enormous amount 
of drugs on the street. How long can we afford to continue policies that 
obviously are not working?"