Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 Source: New York Daily News (NY) - -175472c.html Copyright: 2004 Daily News, L.P. Contact: http://www.nydailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/295 Author: Barbara Ross and Bill Hutchinson, Daily News Staff Writers Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) MORGENTHAU SUPPORTS PRESCRIPTION POT FOR PAIN Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said yesterday that he favors prescribing pot for pain. The 83-year-old prosecutor became the first New York law enforcement official to endorse legalizing medicinal marijuana. Morgenthau said TV talk-show host Montel Williams, who uses weed to ease the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis, helped him see the good in grass. "It should be available to those whose suffering would be eased by the use of marijuana," Morgenthau said during a news conference with Williams. "There is absolutely no reason for not using marijuana for medical purposes." The district attorney's endorsement came just hours before a bill proposed by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) cleared a major hurdle by passing the Ways and Means Committee. Gottfried's medicinal marijuana bill, first proposed in 1997, will be voted on by the full Assembly within the next two weeks. But the bill has yet to find a sponsor in the Republican-controlled Senate. Morgenthau said he also consulted with his daughter, a doctor who tries to get addicts off drugs. She told him to "absolutely" support the bill, he said. "It should be another weapon in the arsenal for doctors to use," Morgenthau said. Morgenthau said he has never smoked dope, quipping, "I missed that generation." But he said people like Williams have convinced him that pot can be used responsibly to help those suffering from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, severe arthritis and other ailments. Williams, a naval officer before becoming an Emmy-winning talk-show host, said he started using marijuana on his doctor's recommendation. He said other painkillers failed to control his tremors and spasms, and triggered side effects such as intestinal and kidney problems. "Marijuana works for me," said Williams, who gets his supply from a doctor in California, one of 10 states where it is legal to prescribe it. He declined to say whether he tokes up while in New York. "Why is it that doctors in California can ease my pain but doctors in New York cannot?" Williams said. "If we feel doctors are smart enough to prescribe morphine, why not trust them to prescribe cannabis?" - --- MAP posted-by: Beth