Robert Randall's 1979 Madison visit

Robert Randall, the first person in the United States to legally receive medical marijuana -- he had glaucoma and doctors said he would go blind without the drug -- died earlier this month (of AIDS-related complications), causing some local medical pot advocates to recall the time Randall testified here when the state Legislature was debating a bill that would legalize medical marijuana. It was 1979, and a well-known Madison attorney and former alderman, Donald Murdoch, suffering from cancer, also testified. "It would be a cruel omission to fail to pass this legislation," Murdoch said. The author of the bill was David Clarenbach. Twenty-two years have passed, and the Legislature is once again expected to have a medical pot bill to debate...

-- Doug Moe, The Capital Times Wednesday June 13, 2001. Copyright 2001 The Capital Times 

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