FLORIDA'S DRUG CZAR MEETS MARIJUANA PROTESTERS

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Florida's drug czar met with a small group of
protesters Wednesday but said he wasn't swayed by their arguments that
marijuana should be legalized for medical use.

James McDonough, coordinator of the Florida Drug Control Office, listened
to a handful of protesters say it was wrong to arrest people seeking
marijuana as medical relief from AIDS, cancer treatment and glaucoma.

McDonough said he would remain open to research by the Federal Drug
Administration to determine the validity of marijuana's medicinal use.

"Until that happens,'' he said, "it's home remedies, it's folklore, it's
witchcraft.''

Scott Bledsoe, president of a coalition advocating medical marijuana, said
his group does not advocate the free use of marijuana for recreational
purposes.

``We just want to decriminalize its use for sick people who really need
it,'' he said.

The National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine released a report
in March that indicated marijuana may have beneficial medicinal value. Some
Florida congressmen, including U.S. Reps. John Mica and Bill McCollum, both
Republicans, have denounced the report.

"Right now science has not led us to believe that marijuana is medicine,''
said McDonough, who was in Orlando to address the Association of Counties
70th Annual Conference. "It's premature to believe that. I don't want to
make an illegal drug legal under an anecdotal statement that 'I used it
myself and it gave me relief.'''

Paul Adams, one of the protesters, said he makes occasional street
purchases of marijuana to help stimulate his appetite. He has suffered from
AIDS since 1982.

"I don't roll joints,'' said Adams, 48, of Daytona Beach. "I smoke
marijuana in a pipe - two or three hits - to relieve nausea and help me
eat. I live daily with stress knowing I have marijuana in my apartment but
it really helps, so it's worth the risk.''