Whether bowing to public opinion or considering cost-cutting in light of budget deficits, some states are considering slackening their marijuana laws.

Six state legislatures are working on bills to decriminalize marijuana, and 14 states are reviewing proposals to legalize medical marijuana.

In Maryland, a bill passed the House of Delegates that would legalize medical marijuana. Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the bill is slightly different from the one his organization advocated.

“This bill stipulates that if you’re arrested, you can present evidence that you’re a medical marijuana user, and if that evidence is persuasive, you can avoid jail time and get off with a fine of not more than a hundred dollars,” Mirken said. “That doesn’t spare medical users the unpleasantness of going to court or the cost of hiring an attorney.”

Mirken said the outburst of marijuana-law considerations was reflective of shifting public opinion, which Time magazine ranked as being 80 percent in favor of medical marijuana in November 2002.

“Eventually our laws do reflect changing attitudes in society,” Mirken said. “Poll after poll has shown overwhelming support for the legalization of medical marijuana.”

The American Medical Association came out in support of the Office of Drug Control Policy’s Anti-Drug Campaign in September 2002, citing the far-reaching health consequences of marijuana use to include mental-health problems and lung damage.

The Anti-Drug campaign and other national anti-marijuana organizations, such as the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America, have said their priorities more often lay in preventing youth use of marijuana, which puts more teens in drug rehabilitation than other drugs and alcohol combined.

Mirken suggested the dismal fiscal situations affecting many states could also motivate a slackening in marijuana laws because of the high cost of incarcerating nonviolent criminals.

The Oklahoma Senate approved a bill early this month by a vote of 26-19 that would impose a fine instead of jail time for marijuana possession and repeal some mandatory minimum sentences.

“In Oklahoma, the Legislature is facing severe budget difficulties, so lawmakers have to consider: does it really make sense to spend money arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating marijuana offenders?” Mirken said.

However, some states place a higher value on the prevention of negative social impacts of marijuana. South Dakota recently enacted a bill that would give marijuana offenders longer prison sentences despite the state’s budget deficit.

Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget plan, under review of the Wisconsin Legislature, contains no plans to lessen penalties for marijuana possessors in order to save prison costs.

If the Maryland Assembly’s bill passes, it has a good chance of becoming law, as Maryland’s governor, Robert Ehrlich Jr., has said that he is in support of medicinal marijuana.

Shareese DeLeauer, press secretary for Gov. Ehrlich, said that he would not take a stance on the bill currently under review until it had been passed out of the Legislature.

“The governor is supportive of the concept of medical marijuana but has not taken a position on this particular bill,” DeLeauer said. “If it does make it out of legislature, the governor and his advisors will have to review the bill’s specific points before signing it into law.”

A bill legalizing medical marijuana has been approved by Vermont’s Senate and has a chance of passing the House. Vermont’s governor, Jim Douglas, has said he would not sign such a bill into law because it would violate federal law.