GOLISANO PROPOSES MEDICINAL USE OF MARIJUANA

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Independence Party candidate for governor B. Thomas
Golisano said Wednesday he wants to make marijuana readily available to
terminally ill New Yorkers who want to use the drug for medical purposes.

Golisano contended that the pharmaceutical industry has blocked
implementation of a 1980 law legalizing medicinal marijuana in New York,
the first state nationwide to do so. California and Arizona passed similar
laws 16 years later, and six other states, plus the District of Columbia,
followed.

Proponents claim marijuana relieves pain, reduces nausea and revives the
decreased appetite of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and suffering
from other diseases such as AIDS.

New York discontinued its program in the late 1980s, said Health Department
spokesman John Signor.

"George Pataki cannot and will not make medical marijuana available to
terminally ill New Yorkers because he is in the pocket of the big drug
companies who stand to lose money if medical marijuana is made available,"
Golisano charged.

Golisano announced his plan at a news conference with two multiple
sclerosis patients at his side. Latham resident Lisa Reiss, 47 years old
and weighing only 91 pounds, said marijuana has eased her pain.

"There's not a pill out there that helps you with the excruciating pain,"
said Reiss, whose husband died of AIDS 11 years ago. "If he hadn't had
marijuana, he would've starved to death."

Pataki, a Republican seeking his third term, said he does not support
medical marijuana because patients have other, legal, options to manage
pain and counter treatment side effects.

"I talked with our medical professionals about it," the governor said
during an appearance in Saratoga Springs. "They're not convinced that there
aren't alternatives that aren't a better way for people to deal with pain
and with illness."

The governor's campaign received $44,740 from drug companies in the last
three years, while his Democratic challenger H. Carl McCall received
$4,000. Also since 1999, the state Republican Committee received $166,125,
and state Democrats got $42,448, according to Golisano, citing state Board
of Elections filings.

McCall said Tuesday he supports medical marijuana.

Marijuana Reform Party candidate Thomas Leighton accused Golisano of
stealing his issue three weeks before the election. Leighton needs at least
50,000 votes to put his party on the ballot statewide for the next four
years, and fears Golisano's new support of medical marijuana could
jeopardize that.

"Since my first appearance in the debate, a billionaire has put my words in
his mouth," Leighton said. "The voters should not be fooled by 'me too'
medical marijuana advocates. This is an act of political opportunism."

Golisano denied the accusation. "Definitely, I don't want to steal his
issue," he said. "There's a huge difference between me and the Marijuana
Reform Party candidate."

Leighton, as well as the Green and Libertarian Party candidates, want to
eventually make marijuana legal for everyone, while Golisano believes
marijuana should remain illegal, except when a doctor recommends it for
medicinal purposes.

"We should maintain the heavily controlled status of marijuana," Golisano
said. "Its illicit use should remain a serious crime."

Green Party candidate Stanley Aronowitz advocates the decriminalization of
all drugs.

"Legalization of marijuana, and the end to the war on drugs, are long
overdue," said Green Party Chairman Mark Dunlea. "Having Mr. Golisano run
television ads on this issue will help generate much-needed momentum."

Tom Constantine, former head of the Drug Enforcement Agency and New York
State Police, said the pro-marijuana candidates were being "irresponsible."

They "are sending the message to young, impressionable people that
marijuana is not a dangerous substance," he told Albany radio station WROW
Wednesday. "They've decided it is a medicine."

The New York State Nurses Association supports medical marijuana.

"The justification is that patients could benefit from this," said
association spokeswoman Anne Schott. "It would help patients in situations
where nothing else works as well."