vol2 - Page 208

 twenty-two states in 1970, suggested that open-angle glaucoma
 blinded three to five times more non-whites than whites.
 ll_ My own experiences confirm these reports. Black
 males may be eight times more likely to develop glaucoma than
 <+
 white males. It is also my experience that Black males do not
 respond as well to conventional glaucoma control drugs and are,
 as a result of ineffective medical therapies_ more likely to
 become candidates for surgical intervention°
 12o It is also my experience that Black men and other me_i_
 of color fair less well in surgery than white males and are
 less likely to have a successful outcome.
 13. For these reasons, it seems particularly appropriate
 that the _oward University School of Medicine explore the pos o
 .....
 sibility that other drugs, including drugs like marijuana,
 might help glaucoma patients maintain medical control over
 their conditions and help to prolong sight, short of surgical
 intervention°
 14. While I was in the process of applying for FDA
 permission to test marijuana's IOP lowering properties, Robert
 Randall became my patient.
 15. For a period of fourteen months, November, 1976,
 through January, 197@, I provided Robert Randall with licit,
 medically-supervised access to marijuana.
 16o Mro Randall, a glaucoma patient, had petitioned tb_
 government for legal access to marijuana in May, 1976. He was
 also on trial in the District of Columbia for possession of
 marijuana. These charges were later dismissed when the court