CELEBRITIES

Montel Williams on Tuesday at the state capitol threw his support
behind legalizing medical marijuana in New York, saying pot helps him
cop with multiple sclerosis.

Williams, who was diagnosed with the neurological disease in 1999,
said he uses marijuana every night before bed to relieve the pain in
his legs and feet.

"I'm breaking the law every night, and I will continue to break the
law," Williams, host of the syndicated "Montel Williams Show," said
Tuesday in Albany.

Williams recalled during a news conference how prescription
painkillers and even morphine failed to control his tremors and spasms.

Nine states -- Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine,
Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state -- allow medical marijuana use.

Williams, 47, said he can legally obtain marijuana in California,
where he owns property, but argues that as a New York state taxpayer,
he should have the same right there.

Opponents of legalizing marijuana for medical purposes fear rogue
doctors or patients may abuse it.

A proposed law in New York to prescribe marijuana to terminally ill
patients to treat pain advanced in the Assembly Health Committee
earlier this year, but the measure has yet to reach the floor of the
state Legislature for a vote.