WRONG MESSAGE

"It would be sending the wrong message to the children" is one of the
standard responses to arguments in support of medical marijuana. I'm
convinced that by keeping marijuana a Schedule I Controlled Substance
(``Timely civics lesson," May 16), the federal government is sending the
wrong message to my 14-year-old daughter.

Our daughter's Sunday school teacher, a close family friend, contracted HIV
through a blood transfusion in 1982. Diagnosed more than a decade later,
AIDS eventually caught up with her. The side effects of the medications she
took forced her to stop teaching. She couldn't eat and was being fed
through a tube. She wasted away and looked like a skeleton. After visiting
her, my daughter had nightmares.

In January 1997, California's Compassionate Use Act, Proposition 215, went
into effect and we encouraged our friend to try cannabis, since she clearly
qualified for its use. As a Sunday school teacher, she thought it would
send the wrong message to her students. We finally convinced her to try it
in private. Within weeks she was eating voraciously. She was out and about,
enjoying herself. She returned to the classroom.

Our young daughter saw the transformation. This unique medicine gave our
friend two more years of life. In May 1999, our friend died from a ruptured
pancreas, a result of the highly toxic AIDS medications she took.

My daughter fully understands that Congress has made possession of
marijuana a federal crime. I recently asked her whether the mixed messages
confused her and how she could reconcile the government's stance with her
own direct experience. "No, I'm not confused," she said. "They're just stupid."

I want the next generation to be able to look up to our government and
elected leaders. My daughter sees through the government's stubborn refusal
to admit to marijuana's obvious medical benefit and the disinformation
campaign used to support that position. And that sends the wrong message to
my kid.

Jane Marcus, Palo Alto, Calif.