MOM'S DEATH LED VENTURA TO SUPPORT MEDICAL POT

Gov. Jesse Ventura, who has long supported the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes, told college students on Wednesday that his mother's
last hours convinced him that patients with serious diseases need all the
help they can get.

``Who is government to tell someone, if they have AIDS or cancer, what they
should be taking?'' Ventura said in response to a student's question during
an appearance at the University of St. Thomas.

``These are hideous diseases, and if you get some relief by smoking
marijuana, why not?''

The Minnesota Senate has discussed a bill to study use of marijuana for
medical purposes, and Ventura is scheduled to attend a state-sponsored
conference on the subject Friday. While he has supported the concept, some
public safety officials fear it will hurt attempts to curtail illegal
marijuana use.

Ventura said his mother, Bernice, who died in 1995, had a severe
respiratory condition. He said doctors assured him they would ease her pain
during her last days, which he said was a great comfort to him.

``She had this concoction in a bottle that she would drink,'' Ventura said.
``Rest assured, it was morphine, and a lot of highly, big-time painkilling
drugs in there, that made her life bearable during those final days . . .

``To me, if marijuana does the same thing . . . how can legislators tell
the medical community what to do? This should be left up to a doctor's
discretion.''

He referred to a ``60 Minutes'' episode about a young man with cancer who
found that marijuana helped ease the nausea after chemotherapy.

``You've got a kid here with cancer,'' Ventura said. ``I don't give a damn
if he smokes a joint, if it means his health.''

``What's the difference between that and giving him morphine, from a
doctor, or Percodan, or the favorite today -- what's the one they put half
the women on? Prozac. Now what's that all about?''