THE POT PROBLEM

Re: "Medical Marijuana Is Already Legal in Illinois: And it has been for
three decades. But it'll take the passage of another law to make it
available to patients," by Claire Thompson, April 8

Dear Editor:

In 1978 there was no Department of Human Services (thank the Lord).
The state agency responsible for approving cannabis research and use
for medical purposes was the Illinois Dangerous Drugs Commission. As
the director of that agency, I was under constant pressure from state
senator John Grotberg, who himself later died of cancer, to get
something going for chemotherapy patients to relieve the side effects
of treatment.

During our appropriations hearings, Senator Grotberg held the agency's
budget captive, going over all travel expenses for the year trying
(unsuccessfully) to find some unnecessary or extravagant spending.
(This caused the Committee Chairman to joke, "What? Another fun-filled
weekend in Des Moines?") Finally I was able to get the necessary
federal agencies to not only approve a research project, but to
provide the marijuana. I flew to Washington and picked up a silver
canister labeled "400 Marijuana Cigarettes/U.S. Gov't. Approved." I
took the can of weed to Springfield and showed it to the senator, who
then allowed our budget to pass out of committee.

Later reports from the researchers indicated that the
government-approved smokes were very weak compared with street
purchases. And so the story continues.

Thomas B. Kirkpatrick