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TV talker says pot is healing

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  • TV talker says pot is healing

    Albany Times Union, NY
    May 3 2004

    TV talker says pot is healing


    After he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, TV talk show
    host Montel Williams tried a battery of prescription drugs to combat
    the extreme pain in his legs and feet.
    OxyContin. Vicodin. A morphine drip that left him "in the corner,
    drooling." Nothing worked.


    Then he tried pot.

    "I tell you that the only thing that seems to work for me and make me a
    contributing member of society is marijuana," Williams said from London
    during a recent telephone interview.

    Williams said he prefers eating marijuana, but in a pinch, a few tokes
    can bring his pain from a "level five down to a three."

    Williams has even started a company to package and market pot in
    countries where it's legal for sick people to use.

    And, he'll be in Albany Tuesday to lobby for legalization of medical
    marijuana. He said he is scheduled to meet with Assembly Speaker
    Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno,
    R-Brunswick.

    The Democrat-led Assembly Health Committee has twice passed a bill to
    allow marijuana prescriptions primarily for terminally ill patients. It
    is widely endorsed by the medical community.

    Nine states have passed such laws, but Bruno and Republican Gov. George
    Pataki are opposed.

    Williams, an ex-Marine and U.S. Naval Academy grad who says he voted
    Republican or independent all his life, isn't for legalizing marijuana
    -- or any other drug -- for general use. But for those who are ill, his
    opinion is clear.

    "A doctor told me I could take up to 30 pills of OxyContin a day, yet
    you're going to tell me it's not OK for me to take the equivalent of
    one gram of pot and eat it in a cookie in the comfort of my own home?"
    said Williams, 47. "Do you want a junkie or someone who's paying their
    taxes? I've been paying them real well for the past four years." As of
    Friday, the Powers Crane & Co. lobbying firm was no more.

    After months of acrimony, founder Constance Crane and her partner since
    2001, former state GOP Chairman Bill Powers, chose to go their separate
    ways.

    On May 1, Crane officially opened Crane & Vacco, with former state
    Attorney General Dennis Vacco, who joined Powers Crane last fall, and
    her husband, Jim Crane, a partner in the law firm Crane, Greene &
    Parente.

    Powers's son, Matthew, will stick with dad. The firm's clients will be
    divvied up, and both firms will remain at 90 State St. It's no secret
    Republican President Bush is way behind in New York. But is he losing
    some of his loyal base?

    At the state Capitol last Monday to mark the Armenian Genocide Day of
    Remembrance, Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, said he hopes a
    resolution he's introduced will pass so future anniversaries will be
    honored by Congress and the president, "whoever that is."

    Could Sweeney, a key Bush operative during the 2000 Florida recount,
    doubt Bush will be around much longer?

    "Not at all,"said Sweeney's press secretary Demetrios Karoutsos. "Our
    support for the President hasn't changed a bit."

    The remark, Karoutsos said, likely referred to all future presidents --
    whoever they are. Contributors: Capitol bureau reporters Elizabeth
    Benjamin and Erin Duggan. Got a tip? Call 454-5424 or e-mail
    [email protected].
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