MONTEL WILLIAMS SEEKS MEDICINAL POT IN NEW YORK

(AP) - Montel Williams threw his support behind legalizing medical
marijuana in New York, saying pot helps him cope with multiple sclerosis.

Williams, who was diagnosed with the neurological disease in 1999, said he
uses marijuana every night before bed to relieve the pain in his legs and feet.

"I'm breaking the law everyday, and I will continue to break the law,"
Williams, host of the syndicated Montel Williams Show, said Tuesday.

Williams recalled during a news conference how prescription painkillers and
even morphine failed to control his tremors and spasms.

Nine states -- Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine,
Nevada, Oregon and Washington state -- allow medical marijuana use, as does
Canada.

Williams, 47, said he can legally obtain marijuana in California, where he
owns property, but argued that as a New York state taxpayer, he should have
the same right there.

Opponents of legalizing marijuana for medical purposes fear rogue doctors
or patients may abuse it.

A proposed law in New York to prescribe marijuana to terminally ill
patients has yet to reach the state legislature for a vote.