Source: MSNBC Spokane WA KHQ-6
Website: http://www.msnbc.com/local/KHQ/ 
Pubdate: Thursday, 3 Dec 1998

POT FOR PAIN

SPOKANE, December 3 - Washington State’s new medical marijuana law took
effect Tuesday. The law requires a doctor’s approval and it provides for a
60 day supply.

Q-6 News talked with one man who is in the middle of a marijuana battle.
Sam Diana is confined to a wheelchair because he has multiple sclerosis.

"I wake up in the morning hating myself for having this. I get out of bed
and fall down," says Diana.

He has used prescription drugs for his multiple sclerosis but he says
nothing works like marijuana. "It helps me better than a sleeping pill and
I don’t wake up with a drug hangover."

Diana has lived with multiple sclerosis for 32 years and has been in a
wheelchair the last three years.

He is awaiting sentencing in federal court for a marijuana conviction.

Spokane Police say people will be arrested if they smoke marijuana. It will
be up to a judge to decide whether they were smoking it for medical reasons
or not.
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Checked-by: Richard Lake