LEGAL MARIJUANA FAVORS PATIENTS' INTEREST

Along with other patients from around the country, I was able to join
talk show host Montel Williams, Angel Raich, Irv Rosenfeld and a
number of congressional representatives as Williams made his plea for
legal access to medical marijuana ("Montel urges Congress on medical
marijuana," USATODAY.com, Thursday).

It is sad that something so critical to many Americans health and
well-being is being withheld by politics. Another article in USA TODAY
talked of how elderly U.S. patients are put at risk by clinical
testing that excludes them in favor of younger patients ("A bitter
pill for older patients." Cover story", Life, Thursday).

Elderly patients are more likely to encounter adverse reactions from
conventional medications because of slowed metabolisms and other
consequences of aging. The Food and Drug Administration's litany of
recalls and drug warnings points up the need for non-toxic
alternatives like marijuana.

Washington politicians not only claim we have the best health care in
the world but tout this nation's commitment to democracy, liberty and
freedom. These will remain just claims until our lawmakers restores
the freedom to use cannabis as medicine that they revoked with the
passage of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970.

Gary Storck, co-founder Is My Medicine Legal YET? Madison, Wis.