MEDICAL MARIJUANA MUST BE ALLOWED

Thank you for your article, "State residents join marijuana protest" on
October 22, 1999. As one of the participants and a Waukesha native, I'd
like to add some comments.

While the action at Bob Barr's office added an exclamation point to our
efforts in D.C., we also spent a lot of time meeting with congressional
representatives trying to educate them on the realities of daily life for
sick, disabled and dying Americans, and how medicinal marijuana can have
significant and even lifesaving benefits for many patients.

Whenever the issue of medicinal marijuana has been placed before the
voters, it has always carried by large margins. For example, the medicinal
marijuana initiative in Washington D.C. that Rep. Barr has been attacking
received 69% of the vote. By comparison, Barr was elected with only 53% of
the vote. Similarly in California in 1996, Prop 215 received more votes
than did President Clinton. And on November 2, 1999, voters in Maine passed
a medicinal marijuana ballot initiative by 62 percent to 38 percent.

There is no justification for keeping this medicine from people who need
it, and cowardly politicians who feel this issue is too controversial need
to wake up and do the right thing, instead of allowing this gross injustice
to continue.

Insensitive politicians who would continue to keep medicinal marijuana away
from sick people need to walk a mile in our shoes, and experience what it
is like to face serious illness on a daily basis. When each day involves
coping with pain and illness, why should any medication be unavailable if
it can ease suffering?

In a recent letter supporting the recent medical necessity decision by the
9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California, the California Nurses
Association -- representing 30,000 Registered Nurses -- wrote "To deny a
patient's use of any drug that allows them relief from the ravages of
illness would be immoral".

Citizens interested in ending this impasse should contact your federal and
state representatives and let them know you support the rights of sick,
disabled and dying citizens for legal access to this medicine today.

Gary Storck