GLENEDEN BEACH -- Oregon's largest organization of
physicians handed proponents of medical marijuana a victory on
Sunday, voting to remain neutral in an impending ballot measure
campaign to legalize marijuana for therapeutic purposes.
The group also decided to oppose
a proposed ballot measure that would ban abortions after the first
12 weeks of pregnancy.
The governing body of the Oregon Medical Association, which
represents 5,800 of the state's 8,300 physicians, changed crucial
wording in a proposed resolution under which the association would
have opposed legalizing smoked, medical marijuana.
Under the original resolution, the association would "oppose
any measure that would decriminalize marijuana, including the
initiative petition currently being advanced for the medical use
of this substance ... ." But members voted to change the wording.
Now, instead of opposing the medical marijuana initiative, the
association will "not support" the measure.
On Saturday, Dr. Charles E. Hofmann of Baker City, the state
association's past president, urged it to adopt an American
Medical Association report recommending a ban on medical use of
smoked marijuana until experiments have proven its usefulness. And
on Sunday, Hofmann warned the group that the new wording would
substantially weaken the original intent of the resolution.
"When we're asked what the OMA's
position is on medical marijuana, we'll have to say we're
neutral," he said. " 'Not support' means 'neutral.' Be clear on
that."
Dr. Richard Bayer, a Portland internist and a chief petitioner
for the marijuana initiative, said the association's action was a
"win for the citizens of Oregon ... and for the OMA, because the
OMA made a wise and compassionate decision."
Bayer said that members of the association's House of
Delegates, its governing body, "became educated on the specific
issues (of medical marijuana) and chose compassion."
"People realize that if they had a dying and suffering patient
in the exam room that that patient should not be subject to
criminal sanctions for trying to improve his life," he said.
Bayer said he has seen plenty of evidence that smoking
marijuana relieves nausea caused by chemotherapy and some symptoms
of pain, and it is effective in fighting weight loss in AIDS
patients. Although a prescription drug containing an active
ingredient of marijuana is available, Bayer said it sometimes
isn't as effective as smoked marijuana.
The marijuana resolution also endorses recommendations in an
American Medical Association report on medical marijuana. That
29-page report largely calls into question the medical value of
smoked marijuana. It urges that the National Institutes of Health
sponsor clinical research into uses for the drug.
James Kronenberg, associate executive director of the state
association, said after the vote that its neutrality could affect
the outcome of the election.
Kronenberg said the vote of neutrality is reminiscent of the
ballot measure campaign about physician-assisted suicide in 1994.
The association had taken a similarly neutral stance on that
issue.
"Both proponents and opponents say the OMA's neutrality was a
large part of the measure's passage," he said.
The American Medical Association, of which the state
association is an affiliate, opposed physician-assisted suicide
and legalization of medical marijuana.
The House of Delegates also approved a resolution opposing a
proposed ballot measure that would ban abortions after 12 weeks of
pregnancy. Physicians regarded the measure as an intrusion into
the relationship between them and their patients. They also
worried about sections of the proposed measure that they think
would make it possible for organizations and individuals to sue
doctors for performing abortions.
Dr. Zena I.P. Monji, a Eugene obstetrician-gynecologist,
testified on Saturday that the proposed abortion ban would make it
virtually impossible to terminate pregnancies in cases where tests
indicated birth defects such as Down syndrome. Such tests cannot
be performed until after 12 weeks of pregnancy, she said.
The resolution is in keeping with the association's established
policy, which is to protect access to abortion.
