MASSCANN PROTESTS SUMMIT

Gov. Mitt Romney and five other New England governors met with White
House officials Wednesday morning at Faneuil Hall to discuss drug
problems in New England, as protesters outside called for drug reform,
including the legalization of medicinal marijuana.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, met with the governors and other officials for the
"Anti-Drug Summit of the New England states," to discuss the heroin
problem in New England and the legalization of medicinal marijuana.
The summit also discussed President George W. Bush's "Access to
Recovery Treatment Initiative," a new three-year, $600 million federal
treatment program, legislation on which Congress has not yet decided.

The group heard from doctors from Harvard University and Virginia
Commonwealth University, and other leading experts on drugs and the
use of medicinal marijuana.

"Marijuana is a serious drug problem in today's America," said Brian
Blake, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
"Over 60 percent of those in drug treatment programs are dependent on
marijuana."

Blake said the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition and other
legalization groups are "cynically using the sick." He said the ONDCP
relies on scientific evidence for its policies. So far, the Federal
Department of Agriculture has not found any scientific proof to
support medicinal marijuana.

Blake also brought up the point "that only activists are protesting
for the legalization of marijuana, not medical doctors or
scientists."

Approximately 25 members from MassCann, the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws and student-led groups protested for
medical marijuana legalization outside the conference while Walters,
known as the "Drug Czar," spoke.

"Marijuana is proven to alleviate pain for those that are ill,
according to Dr. Lester Grinspoon, a Harvard doctor and an authority
on the subject," said Mitch Fava, a member of MassCann. Fava and other
MassCann members held signs and passed out flyers with the slogan,
"It's evil to deny sick people medicinal marijuana."

Fava pointed out statistics that Dr. Grinspoon had found — 41 percent
of U.S. doctors favor the legalization of medical marijuana and 44
percent have admitted to recommending cannabis for their patients.
According to MassCann, marijuana can effectively treat many conditions
like arthritis and cancer.

MassCann was joined by other protesters from outside
Massachusetts.

Nathaniel Lepp, a sophomore at Brown University and the president of
Brown's chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, came to protest
the war on drugs.

Lepp said he and his fellow students "are seeking to show marijuana as
another option of relief and a valuable alternative." Lepp also
mentioned that "there were no policy makers present inside Faneuil
Hall that were sympathetic to the cause, even though there are plenty
of doctors who believe in this."

Lepp and many of the other protesters came to Boston to promote
legislation for medicinal marijuana in Rhode Island and
Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts legislature is currently considering a bill that
would permit medicinal marijuana that is approved by both physicians
and the Department of Public Health.