MONTEL SPEAKS UP

Montel Williams has called on Congress to allow him and others
suffering from various illnesses to legalize the medical use of pot.

"This is really so simple it's ignorant," the talk-show host said at a
Capitol Hill news conference. Williams was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis in '99 and says legal drugs don't help the pain.

"I'm hurting right now. I'm hurting. Why? Because I knew I had to come
to Washington, D.C., and I can't carry anything because I know I'd get
busted."

A bipartisan group of lawmakers said decisions about medical marijuana
should be left to the states. But although 10 states have laws that
allow the drug's medical use, the Supreme Court has said this does not
protect distributors from federal antidrug charges.

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) was in Montel's corner. "The notion that
a state-sanctioned practice of medicine ought to be criminalized
really makes no sense," he said.