CONFERENCE AIMS TO EXPLORE USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Minnesota Considering Funding Research On Controversial Issue

Wearing a pinstripe suit and authoritative manner, George McMahon
spoke Friday morning to a conference on medical uses of marijuana
sponsored by Minnesota's departments of Health and Public Safety.

Then, while others sipped coffee during a break, the 50-year-old Iowa
man grabbed his briefcase, walked just outside the door and lit up a
joint.

The act was legal, since McMahon is one of eight people left on a
discontinued federal program for compassionate use of marijuana
because of medical problems. In his pocket, he keeps his
government-grown marijuana in a prescription bottle with a label
reading: ``Smoke up to 10 marijuana cigarettes.''

``If I didn't smoke the marijuana, I would not be functional,'' he said.

McMahon's move was a dramatic illustration of the conference's main
point: that many people suffering from such illnesses as multiple
sclerosis and cancer can relieve their pain and nausea by smoking
marijuana.

Friday's program focused on whether the state ought to push forward
with research on the medicinal value of marijuana.

``We didn't just come here today to talk about this and then forget
about it,'' promised Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver. ``Our
intent is to move forward.''

Gov. Jesse Ventura this week said he supports legalizing marijuana
for medical use. Citing the pain relief he said his mother received
through conventional medicines while dying of a respiratory disease
in 1995, he said other patients should have equal access to a
medicine that relieves their suffering.

On his regular Friday radio show, he blamed pharmaceutical firms and
government for blocking legalization of marijuana for medical use.
``If you have the ability to get a drug from a plant and you can grow
it yourself, well that takes them out of the mix,'' Ventura said. ``
. . . You wouldn't have to pay a pharmaceutical company to process
it, create it and do everything they do so that they make their
millions, and you wouldn't have to pay tax to the government.''

Last week, the Senate Transportation and Public Safety Finance
Committee considered a bill to put $100,000 into research on medical
uses of marijuana; it was laid over for possible inclusion in the
omnibus bill. Another proposal would remove criminal penalties for
sick people who use marijuana to relieve their symptoms.

A 1980 state law allows research on marijuana, but few researchers
are currently involved in studies, according to Dave Holstrom of the
state Board of Pharmacy. Researchers must also receive separate
permits from the federal government for any clinical trials involving
marijuana.

The information session was billed as an attempt to spur research by
the academic community, but organizers acknowledged that few if any
researchers attended the event other than one who appeared on a panel.

Instead, the audience of about 100 was made up largely of proponents
of legalizing marijuana. Opponents also passed out information.

Stanley Thayer, a professor of pharmacology at the University of
Minnesota who conducts basic science on the effect of some chemicals
in marijuana on the brain, said the forum was not well publicized to
potential researchers.

``The researchers are more interested in the science. This has a lot
to do with the politics,'' Thayer said. He suggested that research
should be focused on developing an effective way of delivering the
medicine in marijuana other than smoking, which he said could never
pass muster with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The audience at Friday's seminar was largely sympathetic to
legalization. Advocates claim that many people with multiple
sclerosis, chronic pain, glaucoma and cancer can find relief from
pain, nausea, vision problems and appetite loss by using marijuana.
Eight states have authorized medicinal marijuana use.

In 1988, McMahon was hospitalized for chronic pain after several
surgeries and broken bones he had suffered over the years. Smoking
marijuana helped him regain his appetite and ability to sleep, which
McMahon says allowed him to heal, although pain and muscle spasms
recur if he doesn't smoke marijuana regularly.

The opposing point of view was expressed by Jeanette McDougal,
co-chairwoman of Drug Watch Minnesota, who called medicinal marijuana
proposals a foot in the door for legalizing marijuana for
recreational use.

This report contains information from the Associated Press and from
staff writer Bill Salisbury.