Montel Williams Backs Medical Marijuana
May 5, 2005
Lexington Herald-Leader
Message To Congress: 'This Is Really So Simple'
WASHINGTON (AP) - Talk-show host Montel Williams joined a group of medical marijuana advocates yesterday in imploring Congress to allow him and other sick people to use the drug without fear of prosecution.
"This is really so simple it's ignorant," said Williams, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. He said legal drugs do not help the pain.
"I'm hurting right now. I'm hurting. Why? Because I knew I had to come to Washington, D.C., and I can't carry anything because I know I'd get busted," he said.
Williams spoke at a Capitol Hill news conference where a bipartisan group of lawmakers said decisions about medical marijuana should be left to the states.
Ten states allow residents to use marijuana for medical purposes. The Supreme Court has said that doesn't protect distributors from federal drug charges.
The court is considering a case about whether federal drug agents can go after patients in states where the drug is allowed for medical purposes— Alaska, California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Maine, Montana, Hawaii and Vermont.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he was reintroducing a bill that would allow states to set their own laws on medical marijuana.
"The notion that a state-sanctioned practice of medicine ought to be criminalized really makes no sense," Frank said.
© 2005 Lexington Herald-Leader
 Newshawked-by: chip
Posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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