vol2 - Page 158

 take a placebo and be consigned to needless suffering. This was
 s
 an intolerable ==solution _. To their credit the Georgia Medical
 Boar_refused to gut %he _ntent of %he _eorgla law in order %o
 meet federal regu!atorydemandeo
 84. Unable to resolve these growing problems, and
 confronted with lengthening delays, the State of Georgia hired m_
 in Aug_Ist, 1980 as a Special Consultant to the Georgia Medical
 Board. My spec_flc responsibility was to aid the Board and
 overseeing the development of Georgia's marijuana as medicine
 program° _n reality X was h_red to find a way around or through
 federal regulatory bar,largo
 85. Then Georgla Secretary of State David Poytheress
 issueda statement to the press announcing my appointment to this
 post. Xn part the Secretary's statement reads:
 Mre. Taft .o. was hired after the Patlent Review
 Boa_d, working under the State Board of Medical
 Examlners, "got bogged down among several federal
 agencies° While seekim_ %o obtain the marijumna
 necessary to begin the :research program [in
 Geergla_. Mrs. Taft has about as good a
 knowledge of _he _urisd_c_ional lines (of the
 federal agencies) as a_oneo _' {See exhibit)
 86. A_er _o_ning _he Geo_gla Patient Review Board
 read %he correspondance between the Board and the various
 federal agencies which control medical access to marijuana. It
 was clear to me federal officials were creating excuses and
 unnecessary barriers° Xn short, they were dellberately blocki_%9
 Georgla_s efforts to Implement ±%$ state law.
 BYe _n essences _DA, N_DA and D_A used their monopol_
 control over llc_t supplies of marijuana to force Georgia _:_