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MARIJUANA RX

THE PATIENTS' FIGHT FOR MEDICINAL POT

Randall was 24 when told that he—d be blinded by severe glaucoma before he turned 30. Four years later, he became the first American to gain access to marijuana for medical purposes; two decades later, he found the drug would also support his fight against AIDS. This sometimes strident account tells how, for 20 years, Randall struggled to secure marijuana as a medication through sundry legal/political machinations. He and his co-author O’Leary’s saga began in 1973 when Randall discovered, while smoking marijuana just for fun, that the glaucoma-related tri-colored rings obscuring his vision had disappeared. A search of the medical literature revealed the suggestion that marijuana could indeed return dangerously high intraocular pressures (caused by glaucoma) to normal levels, thereby relieving visual disturbances. In 1975, however, Randall and O’Leary were arrested for growing marijuana in their Washington, D.C., apartment. As they point out here, there were advantages to being arrested in the nation’s capital: Sources of medical and legal information and assistance were abundant. Randall duly made the rounds of agencies and organizations, looking for lawyers and doctors to take on the government drug regulators: the FDA, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, et al. Recounting these sorties, Randall and O—Leary (who together co- founded a medical marijuana advocacy group) at times make querulous guides (for instance, thoroughly dissing a National Eye Institute administrator: “It was his incredibly rude manner, his abrupt disingenuousness that was so distasteful”) and pull no punches, naming names throughout. Yet the authors also score telling points: The evidence persuasively suggests that smoking marijuana can treat glaucoma effectively and can relieve nausea and increase appetite in people being treated for cancer and AIDS. An eccentric story, but timely and ultimately worthwhile. (Author tour)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999

ISBN: 1-56025-166-2

Page Count: 528

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1998

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NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.

Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955

ISBN: 0670717797

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955

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