LETTERS REGARDING MEDICAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE

Your editorial referred to the ragtag task force as being comprised of a
political consultant, cancer patient, etc.

I am that political consultant/cancer patient. I accepted the appointment
to the task force as a cancer patient who survived a brutal regimen of
chemotherapy by using marijuana when traditional drugs did not work. When
your survival is on the line, as mine was, it was an alternative that I was
willing to try.

I am not a marijuana activist. Nor do I support the legalization of
marijuana. My role on the task force has been to help develop guidelines
for the implemention of Prop. 215, passed in 1996.

I have served as the chair of the physician/patient subcommittee. We took
our task very seriously and developed a survey for San Diego physicians and
a cross-section of needy patients. The results are available on the City of
San Diego Web site.

Ann Shanahan-Walsh

Member, San Diego

Medical Marijuana Task Force