SCIENCE FAIR POT PROJECT BARRED (TITLE BY NEWSHAWK)

BELMONT, Calif. - The debate over medical marijuana has extended into an
eighth-grade classroom, with a middle school principal refusing to let a
student display her project on the possible medical benefits of pot.

Ralston Intermediate School Principal Deborah Ferguson told 13-year-old
Veronica Mouser last week she was barring her project - entitled "Mary Jane
for Pain" - from a school science fair because marijuana is considered an
illegal drug by the federal government.

"It's just not fair," Veronica said. "I put in months of work. This is a
controversial subject and it should be discussed."

Veronica, who said she didn't smoke marijuana herself for the project or
give it to her research subjects, studied the effects it had on three
medical marijuana patients, visited an Oakland cannabis club, toured a
private pot-growing room in Redwood Shores and interviewed doctors.

She concluded that medical marijuana, which is legal under California law,
helped relieve pain and nausea in chronically ill patients.

"Science fairs do not allow the use of controlled substances, and also they
have been careful not to let students experiment with substances that are
illegal or controlled," said Marcia Harter, assistant superintendent of the
Belmont-Redwood Shores School District.