Medical Marijuana Project Entered In Science Fair

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- A controversial entry in a California school science fair didn't win any ribbons, but it did get loads of media attention.

It was a project devoted to medical marijuana and was called "Mary Jane for Pain." And it got so much attention that the shy seventh-grader who entered it in the fair stayed home.

The project she submitted featured literature about medical marijuana alongside fake pot-laced muffins and real marijuana-infused rubbing alcohol. School officials decided she'd have to delete the pot props to qualify. The watered-down version consisted mainly of newspaper clippings and didn't make the finals.

But her father said he thinks everybody's learned something from the experience -- namely that "medical marijuana isn't a bunch of people sitting around taking payments from the government to smoke marijuana."

The girl's aunt works at a nonprofit organization that dispenses marijuana muffins and other cannabis-laced products to people suffering from terminal illnesses.