FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 17, 2004



Drug Czar Sweeps into Springfield with Full Secret Service Retinue;
Legal Patient Detained by Police

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications, 202-543-7972
or 415-668-6403

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS -- In the face of massive pressure from the Bush
White House, the Human Services Committee of the Illinois House of
Representatives voted down medical marijuana bill HB 407 by a 4-7
vote this morning.

While the committee heard testimony from a wide array of doctors
and patients, who discussed the evidence of marijuana's medical
efficacy and safety as well as the hardships that current Illinois
law inflicts on patients, the event was dominated by the unexpected
appearance of White House Drug Czar John Walters. Walters, who swept
into the state capitol accompanied by a massive security entourage
that arrived in a row of gleaming SUVs, spent a full hour testifying
against the bill.

Patient Irvin Rosenfeld -- one of seven patients still receiving
medical marijuana from the U.S. government through a program that
closed to new patients in 1992 -- was detained by police after the
hearing. Rosenfeld, who suffers from multiple congenital cartilaginous
exostosis, a rare and extremely painful inherited disorder, brought
the tin of 300 marijuana cigarettes he receives monthly from the
federal government to the hearing, and was held while police verified
that he has federal permission to possess marijuana for medical use.

"I can't remember ever seeing any White House, Republican or
Democrat, put such a massive effort and spend so many taxpayer dollars
trying to quash a state bill just having its first hearing," said Rep.
Larry McKeon (D-Chicago), the bill's sponsor. "This is an outrageous
misuse of tax dollars, and I am distressed that my fellow Democrats
couldn't muster the courage to resist this White House interference."

The measure, similar to laws now in force in ten states, has
received endorsements from an impressive array of organizations,
including the Illinois Nurses Association and the AIDS Foundation of
Chicago. Television host Montel Williams, who uses medical marijuana
to relieve the pain and muscle spasms of multiple sclerosis, urged
passage of the measure in a Feb. 14 Chicago Tribune column.

"The public and the medical community understand that there is no
point in subjecting patients battling cancer, MS, or AIDS to arrest
and jail for using a medicine that can relieve some of their
suffering," said Neal Levine, director of state policies for the
Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "The only real opposition
comes from ideologues in the White House who have shown zero regard
for science or common sense. It's time for Illinois legislators to
show some backbone and stand up for sick and suffering Illinoisans."

"What happened to me illustrates why this bill is necessary,"
Rosenfeld said. "For 22 years, I have received my medical marijuana
directly from the federal government, and yet after I spoke, I was
stopped and detained by the police. Had this been any other patient,
they would be in jail now, no matter how sick they are or how much
pain they are in. Medical marijuana has enabled me to live a normal
life and have a successful career as a stockbroker, and it's not fair
that only a few of us have legal access to this medicine while so many
others with the same need are forced to risk jail for it every day."

With more than 17,000 members and 150,000 e-mail subscribers
nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana
policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize
the harm associated with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana
and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that
the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment.