ADVOCATES OF MARIJUANA'S MEDICINAL USE GET A HEARING

After testifying for more than an hour Friday at a state-sponsored forum on
marijuana's medical benefits, George McMahon needed a break.

So the northwest Iowa man shuffled outside the Minnesota Department of
Health building in St. Paul and sat down. He rolled a joint, lit up and
smiled as the breeze sent the herb's signature pungent smoke wafting past
those lingering by the state office building's doors. "This is really a
great day," said McMahon, one of about eight people with federal permission
to smoke marijuana for medical purposes.

Although state officials stressed that the forum should not be construed as
an endorsement of the use of marijuana for any reason, marijuana activists
shared in McMahon's delight. Normally relegated to the fringe of politics,
they instead found themselves invited guests and often the center of
attention at a discussion sponsored by the state Health and Public Safety
departments.

The forum, attended by Gov. Jesse Ventura, is believed to be the first such
state-sponsored event nationally.

"It's marvelous to be invited into the halls of the establishment," said
Dr. John Morgan, a New York pharmacology expert and board member of the
National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML). "I've never seen
anything like it before."

Research Subject

Nationally, eight states have legalized either marijuana or the active
compound in it for medical use. There is increasing scientific support for
the plant's medicinal benefits. In March 1999, the Institute of Medicine,
part of the National Academies of Science, released a report suggesting
that marijuana's ingredients could be of value to people with cancer or
multiple sclerosis. It eases pain and nausea in cancer patients and reduces
painful muscle spasms in MS patients.

Commissioners of both health and public safety made it clear throughout the
conference that the St. Paul event wasn't an endorsement of any kind of
marijuana use.

Instead, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said, the intent was to encourage
Minnesota researchers to consider studying marijuana and to increase
awareness of a 1980 Minnesota law allowing scientists to study it.
Currently, it is thought that only one or two state researchers are
studying the drug, officials said.

McMahon, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder, was given permission to
use the drug for medical purposes in 1988 by the federal government. When
the government stopped granting the dispensation in 1992, McMahon's case
was grandfathered into the decision.

"We want to facilitate research, in order to open the doors to the best
possible therapies for patients and physicians," Malcolm said, adding that
impetus for the forum came from Ventura, who thought Minnesota's top
medical centers make the state a natural for being a research leader in the
area.

Ventura said little during the hour or so he spent at Friday's event, but
he often nodded in approval from his front-row seat. Tailed by reporters
out to the parking lot when he left, the governor only glared when asked
why the forum was needed.

Ventura, however, has long supported medical marijuana use. In a 1998
interview with High Times magazine, he said the plant was put on Earth to
help relieve suffering and that law enforcement should have no role in a
patient's decision to use it.

He also said on his radio show this week that he supports legalizing
medical marijuana for medical use. Citing the pain relief he said his
mother received through conventional medicine while dying of respiratory
disease in 1995, he said other patients should have equal access to a
medicine that relieves their suffering.

"Why is there such resistance to this?" Ventura asked on the program. "The
medical community has already deemed it has medical value."

His beliefs appeared to set the tone for the conference.

"We didn't just come here today to talk about [research] and forget about
it. Our intent is to move forward," said Public Safety Commissioner Charlie
Weaver, who led off the program. Weaver, known for his tough-on-crime
reputation, was pursued by several marijuana activists who wanted their
photos taken with him.

In between, scientists from the University of Minnesota and the Health
Department, as well as health professionals around the state, gave an
overview of the science behind medical marijuana.

Tim O'Malley of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and David
Holmstrom of the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy provided a step-by-step guide
to getting state and federal permits to research marijuana. Currently,
researchers need both state and federal permits to obtain the drug and use it.

Few of the people in the audience of about 100 were researchers, however.
Instead, it was mostly a mix of bureaucrats and activists, many of the
latter identifiable by all-hemp clothing or buttons displaying the
marijuana leaf.

Assistant Health Commissioner Aggie Leitheiser said officials had hoped
more researchers would attend. A medical conference in another city kept
many cancer researchers away, she said.

Still, Leitheiser said, news reports of the forum and word-of-mouth about
it will achieve the forum's goal of making researchers more aware of state
laws allowing them to study the drug.

Weaver agreed. "I think we accomplished our goal. We are hopeful that a
researcher will step forward and tackle this."

Audience reaction to the forum varied. One critic was Jeanette McDougal, of
St. Paul, who said the forum wasted taxpayers' money because it publicized
a drug that is usually smoked, which increases the risk of cancer.

Marijuana activists, however, generally applauded what they called the
state's "progressive" views. Although the forum didn't go as far as they
hoped, many said they believed it may set the stage ultimately for
legalizing medical marijuana in the state.

"This is an important step forward, but there's still a lot of work to be
done," said Darrell Paulsen, a medical marijuana advocate from South St.
Paul who said police have raided his house before because he used marijuana
to ease the muscle stiffness from cerebral palsy.

Both NORML's Morgan and Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project in
Washington, D.C., agreed. With Ventura's apparent backing and the positive
tone set by the conference, both said they expected their organizations to
step up lobbying in Minnesota over the next year.