FEDS FAULTED FOR STAND ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

35 States Have Laws Recognizing Marijuana's Medical Benefit, But Federal
Laws Supersede State Laws, A State Senator Says

If it weren't for the medical use of marijuana, Robert Randall says he
would have to introduce people to a seeing eye dog.

Randall has used marijuana legally for 20 years to treat glaucoma, a
chronic eye disease. It would have blinded him, he said, if he hadn't
discovered that marijuana reduced the disease's intense eye pressure.
Randall, 51, of Sarasota, Fla., a leading proponent of medical marijuana,
spoke last night at a panel discussion "Should the Hawaii Legislature
Legalize Marijuana for Medical Use?" sponsored by the Drug Policy Forum of
Hawaii, at McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Park.

"The issue can be boiled down into two sentences," Randall said. "Marijuana
has medicinal value; it's a fact. And federal law prohibits marijuana for
medical use."

State Sen. Matt Matsunaga and Dr. John McDonnell, elected physician of the
year by the Hawaii Medical Association, joined him in the discussion.

"In the last few days I've talked to a number of legislators here. They
seem supportive," Randall said. "I think there's a unique opportunity for
Hawaii to set a pattern for other states to follow. Try to meet the needs
of the patients now with state-sponsored cultivation of medical marijuana."

Matsunaga said four bills introduced last session on medical marijuana
remain alive and will be revisited this upcoming session.

"We must realize the federal laws always supersede state laws," Matsunaga
said. "Thirty-five states passed laws recognizing marijuana's medical
benefit, but remain stymied by the federal government. It will take a lot
of effort from different angles."

The federal government refuses to release to states marijuana for medical
use, so patients must obtain the drug illegally, Randall said. Marijuana
has been shown to reduce symptoms, including pain and nausea in patients
with cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, and glaucoma, among other diseases,
he said.

Randall documented his own plight in "Marijuana RX: The Patients' Fight for
Medical Pot."

Diagnosed with glaucoma in 1972 at age 24, Randall discovered marijuana
relieved the potentially blinding eye pressure.

"It was my only hope for prolonging my sight," he said.

His arrest for growing marijuana began his long legal battle. Using the
"medical necessity defense," Randall made history in 1976 as the first
American to gain legal access to marijuana for medical use.

Since then he has smoked marijuana, prescribed by his doctor and grown by
the federal government in Mississippi. The marijuana is shipped to a
pharmacy in Randall's town and issued in cigarette form. He smokes 10 a day.

"We're talking about people in dire medical need," Randall said.

"The government has stonewalled us."