RALEIGH TO HEAR FROM MARIJUANA ADVOCATES

Advocates and local residents will speak before the state House this
week to encourage a study into the use of medicinal marijuana.

Polk County resident Jean Marlowe, Democratic Rep. Earl Jones of
Guilford County, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jocelyn Elders and
Saluda resident Ray Pague plan to speak Wednesday at the Capitol auditorium.

Jones said he will introduce a measure calling for a study to be
done on the benefits of medicinal marijuana.

"Dr. Elders will address the Science and Technology Committee of the
House about this subject," Jones said. "I have a bill that will be
requesting a study committee."

Jones said he is introducing the bill because he believes marijuana
may hold a potential cure for ailments or pain.

"Marijuana has been proven in studies to reduce the pain and
suffering in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, glaucoma,
multiple sclerosis, AIDS and cancer," he said. Jones said his top
priority in policy making is to benefit the public, and in
this case helping the public manage pain.

"There is not a reason for marijuana not to be used legally in North
Carolina if it could help our residents manage their pain and
suffering," he said.

Marlowe plans to speak about the latest research on medicinal marijuana.

"I want to tell legislators how North Carolina patients are
suffering and worried about prosecution," she said. "It is high time
North Carolina gets on board. North Carolina residents need natural
medicines. Some of these toxic pharmaceuticals are not the answer."

Jones said 12 states passed legislation calling for studies into
medicinal marijuana.

Marlowe said medicinal marijuana patients are being persecuted.

"If they are arrested and convicted they are forbidden from getting
public housing, food stamps and other things they may need," she
said. "This needs to be changed now."

Pague was pleased that Jocelyn Elders will speak.

"I have been following her for several years," Pague said. "She has
been following medical marijuana studies for years, logically."

Marijuana "is something that for patients who find it, works for
them," he said.

Marlowe's visit to Raleigh will come two days after a hearing set
for today in Polk County Superior Court for her ex-husband Steve.

Steve Marlowe, 59, of Mill Spring, was arrested in November 2007 and
charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, maintaining a vehicle
or dwelling for the use or sale of marijuana and manufacturing marijuana.

Marlowe's attorney, Ben Scales of Asheville, has filed motions that
claim the Polk County Sheriff's Office forced an informant to give
investigators false information to obtain a search warrant.

The motions are slated to be heard in court today.

"The search warrant was executed by the Polk County Sheriff's
Department on November 13, 2007," Scales said in his motion. "The
warrant was issued upon information contained in the affidavit of
Lt. Matt Prince, which in turn is based upon a statement by a
formerly confidential informant named Charles Grady Shehan Jr."

According to the search warrant, Lt. Prince relied on statements
made by Shehan.

"In his video statement, Shehan unequivocally makes clear that the
statements he gave to the deputies upon which the search warrants
were based were not true," Scales said.