CONFERENCE HEARS FROM BACKERS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

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 of the 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.