The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, June 13,1979-Page 9
State Senate panel OKs pot for therapeutic use
By ADRIENNE LYONS
The state Senate Health and Social
Services Committee yesterday ap-
proved a bill which would legalize the
use of marijuana for therapeutic pur-
poses. The bill now will be sent to the
Senate floor for a vote.
The bill, introduced in March, sets up
a "therapeutic research program for
people undergoing cancer
chemotherapy and glaucoma," said
Terry Redford, an aide to Sen. Edward
Pierce (D-Ann Arbor), chairman of the
Senate committee.
ALTHOUGH a good deal of the bill's
language was changed, Sen. Stephen
Monsma (D-Kent), who introduced the
bill, said he was pleased with the final
draft.
Under the bill, the Public Health
Department would apply to the state as
a research program through which in-
dividual physicians in the state could
prescribe marijuana to their patients.
"Records would be kept in terms of
patient reaction," Monsma said.
Redford said the federal government
would supply "pre-packaged"
marijuana joints to patients with
prescriptions. He explained the
marijuana would come from federal - claimed that marijuana may prevent
farms which grow the plant, including a glaucoma sufferers from going blind.
five-acre farm in Mississippi. The Senate recently passed another
MONSMA ALSO said if, for some bill, which lowered the penalty for
reason, the federal government no possession of one ounce of marijuana.
longer could provide the substance, That bill went through a lengthy debate
marijuana the state had confiscated for in the Senate before it finally passed.
illegal use could be used in the MONSMA SAID he did not expect
program. much opposition to this bill when it goes
Redford explained there are several to the Senate floor for a vote in a few
therapeutic uses for marijuana. days. "I suppose I should know better
"Chemotherapy has severe side effec- by now than to make flat-out predic-
ts" such as nausea, she said. tions, but I suspect it will be positively
"Marijuana prevents nausea." She also received," Monsma said. "No one has
GUERRILLA WAREFARE CONTINUES:
surfaced to oppose it."
Redford said she agreed with Mon-
sma. "There will be less debate than
the marijuana penalty reduction bill,"
she said. "Most legislators view it as a
compassionate means by which
someone who is seriously ill" can use
marijuana.
Redford said it was "highly unlikely"
that the program would be abused by
marijuana-smokers seeking extra pot.
She called the program a very "struc-
tured" one which conforms to all
federal agencies' requirements.
Americans escape from Nicaragua
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Six-
ty-one Americans guarded by
Nicaraguan troops and U.S. Marines
sped to a secret airstrip outside
Managua yesterday and took off aboard
a U.S. Air Force plane to escape the in-
tensifying guerrilla war against
President Anastasio Somoza.
Evacuation of the Americans -
Filibuster threatened
in draft registration vote
mostly wives and children of U.S. Em-
bassy staff members - to the Panama,
Canal Zone came as fresh fighting
raged between Somoza's national
guard troops and Sandinista guerrillas
in many sections of this Central
American capital.
At one point, as gunfire rocked a poor
district a few hundred yards from the
U.S. Embassy, guards at the embassy
opened fire on bushes across the road.
People standing in the compound
scrambled for cover. The incident was
not explained immeidately.
ELSEWHERE in Managua, wit-
nesses reported a rocket fired by a
government warplane destroyed the
building housing Nicaragua's last
remaining opposition newspaper, La
Prensa. And a Sandinista communique
claimed a defecting national guard
pilot bombed a guard air base at
Managua's international airport before
flying to Costa Rica.
An attempt to airlift the Americans
out Monday was aborted when a
firefight broke out between guardsmen
and guerrillas on the road to the
Managua airport.
Yesterday morning, the American
evacuees rode through the streets of
Managua in a 13-vehicle convoy flying
white flags. Hundreds of Nicaraguan
refugees, also carrying white, were
streaming out of the city at the same
time.
A TRUCKLOAD of Nicaraguan
troops rode at the front of the convoy
and another brought up the rear. Each
of the trucks, automobiles and vans
carrying evacuees was driven by a
Marine or a State Department security
officer, some wearing flak jackets and
all of them armed, some with shotguns
anctothers with pistols.
The convoy sped to an airstrip outside
Managua where an Air Force C-130
Hercules transport was standing by, its
four turboprop engines revving. The
evacuees scurried out of the vehicles,
some women hurriedly kissing their
husbands goodbye, and filed up the
plane's tail ramp.
AFTER THE vehicles were clear of
the runway, the big transport took off.
It landed later at Howard Air Force
Base in the Canal Zone, and the
evacuees were checked into a Panama
City hotel until space could be found for
them on commercial flights back to the
United States.
(Continued from Page 3) v
by the Senate and House.
THE HOUSE BILL, which contains
a registration provision, is expected to
come up for debate in the next week or
so.
In a letter to Senate colleagues, Hat-
field and McGovern and Sens. Mike
Gravel (D-Alaska) and Henry Bellmon
(R-Okla.) lobbied against draft
registration.
They noted that the president already
has authaority to resume
registration-which ended in 1975-and
that Defense Secretary Harold Brown
has said it is not necessary to meet
manpower mobilization requirements.
THE PENTAGON'S Joint Chiefs of
Staff have called for renewal of
registration.
In other action on the bill, the Senate
voted 78-18 against an amendment by
Sen. Gary Hart (D-Cola.) to delte $1.3
billion for the Navy's F-18 fighter-
attack plane.
On a voice vote, the Senate approved
restrictions on the use of money for a
low-frequency system for com-
municating with submerged sub-
marines. The restrictions would ban
spending any money for the program
unless the president certified it was in
the national interest, that a)deployment
site had been picked and that he had
approved the site.
Beyond that, it would ban spending
funds for full-scale development of the
project through Oct. 1, 1980.
Senate rejects retention
of sanctions on Rhodesia
(Continued from Page 1)
determined that elections which led to
the installation of a black prime
minister were not free or fair.
The Senate vote came after a long
debate in which the president's suppor-
ters contended that lifting the sanctions
would result in a loss of U.S. influence
and prestige in Africa and possible
economic reprisals by such African
nations as oil-rich Nigeria.
THE DEBATE WAS on an amen-
dment to'the military procurement bill.
Left untouched by yesterday's action
was an amendment by Sen. Harry Byrd
(Ind.-Va.), already included in the bill,
which would require Carter to lift the
sanctions.
Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho),
chairman of the 'Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, pleaded with the
Senate not to "rush to judgment" on the
issue.
Church's committee had approved
the compromise measure earlier
yesterday. The proposal would have
allowed Carter to continue the current
trade sanctions even after Dec. 1 if he
certified that the trade embargo was in
the national interest.
Sen. Jacob Javits (R-N.Y.), an
author of the compromise amendment,
said it would preserve the power of
Congress to life the sanctions while
giving Carter maneuvering room to
work with Great Britain for a set-
tlement in Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
AVENUE at LIBERTY ST. 761-9700
Formerly Fifth Forum Theater
"One of the movie mile-
stones.of the decade"
-REX REED