FORMER REAGAN AIDE AMONG MEDICAL MARIJUANA SUPPORTERS

What do conservatives like former Reagan administration aide Lyn Nofziger
and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) have in common with two House liberals
and a libertarian?

They all support legislation entitled the "States Rights to Medical
Marijuana Act" that would permit states to allow the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes.

Nine states currently permit the use of medical marijuana, but federal law,
which supersedes state law, still lists all marijuana possession as a
crime. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that medical
necessity is not a defense for marijuana possession.

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts is the sponsor of the bill.
Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, a former Libertarian presidential
candidate, is the lead co-sponsor. Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of
Illinois supports the measure as well.

Nofziger told a Capitol Hill news conference he became convinced that
medicinal marijuana for patients should be legalized after his oldest
daughter died several years ago from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, cancer of the
lymph tissue, at the age of 38.

"Before she died she underwent heavy chemotherapy that caused nausea,
diarrhea and loss of appetite. None of the legal medications including the
marijuana substitute Marinol helped to alleviate the symptoms. In
desperation, we turned to marijuana to see if that would help," said Nofziger.

"Fortunately, people know a lot more about where to find marijuana than
people of my generation. And the marijuana did help reduce the side effects
of the chemotherapy to the point where she regained her appetite and
actually began putting on weight," Nofziger said.

"Obviously, it did not save her life nor did we think it would. However, it
made a portion of the last weeks of her life considerably more bearable
both to her and to her family," he added.

Nofziger said his daughter's death taught him about the value of medical
marijuana.

"Since then I have learned that marijuana can also help persons with
glaucoma, the wasting symptoms of AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other
afflictions. Because of this I have become an avid supporter of efforts to
legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes," he said.

Nofziger, who worked for Reagan both when Reagan was governor of California
and later president, called the Frank-Paul bill a step in the direction of
legalization and called on the Bush administration to support the legislation.

"An administration that claims to be both compassionate and conservative
should enthusiastically support legislation that truly is compassionate and
that also returns rights to the states that the Tenth Amendment (of the
U.S. Constitution) theoretically guarantees to them," he said.

However, the Drug Enforcement Administration contends there is no reliable
study that shows marijuana has a medicinal value.

"Medical marijuana has been promoted for 'compassionate use' to assist
people with cancer, AIDS and glaucoma. Scientific studies show the opposite
is true; marijuana is damaging to individuals with these illnesses. In
fact, people suffering with AIDS and glaucoma are being used unfairly by
groups whose real agenda is to legalize marijuana," according to the DEA.

The DEA website refutes some specific examples of marijuana's alleged
medical benefits.

- - AIDS: Scientific studies indicate marijuana damages the immune system,
causing further peril to already weakened immune systems. HIV-positive
marijuana smokers progress to full-blown AIDS twice as fast as non-smokers
and have an increased incidence of bacterial pneumonia.

- - Cancer: Marijuana contains many cancer-causing substances, many of which
are present in higher concentrations in marijuana than in tobacco.

- - Glaucoma: Marijuana does not prevent blindness due to glaucoma.