vol2 - Page 207

 4. ! am a board certified Ophthalmologist. I am
 licensed to practice medicine in Illinois, Georgia, California,
 the District of Columbia and North Carolina.
 5. After completing my studies_ X returned to the
 Howard University College of Medicine where I joined the
 -faculty as an Assistant Professor and later became Chairman of
 the Division of Ophthalmology within the Department of Surgery_
 6. In 1978_ _ resigned my position at _oward
 University and moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I
 joined the faculty of the University of Worth Carolina School
 of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology as an Associate
 Professor. I later became a Full Professor of Ophthalmology at
 the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
 7°- In mid_1976_ while at Howard University, where _
 maintained a private practice, _ applied for FDA permission to
 evaluate marijuana_s potential therapeutic value in the
 reduction of intraocular pressures (SOP).
 8. Drugs which reduce intraocular pressure (!OP)
 may be of medical value in the treatment of glaucoma, one of
 the leading causes of blindness in the United States.
 9. My interest in marijuana's lOP-reducing
 properties was twofold° First, glaucoma is a leading cause of
 blindness and improved medical treatments for the disease are
 critically needed.
 10. Second, glaucoma disproportionately affects people ©f
 color. While there are few detailed studies in this areas a
 National Eye Institute review of data_ retrieved from
 -2-