------------------------------------------------------------------- Record For The Man Imprisoned Longest (Boston Globe columnist David Nyhan discusses America's prison-industrial complex and the recent statistics on America's prison population. The Guinness Book of World Records notes Paul Guidel is the man imprisoned longest in the United States. He was 17 when he committed second-degree murder. He lived in a New York prison for 68 years, eight months, and two days before being released at age 85. But he's got a lot of company these days, and there's no hope of reform in the near term. Longer sentences and harsher penalties sound great on the evening news to fearful voters, eager-to-please pols, and those making money off the billions we spend for new $100,000-a-pop prison cells, where it costs 30 grand a year to keep some wretch locked up. Academic studies have shown a direct correlation between voters' fear of crime and media hype, tabloid outrages exploited by news reports, with television the leading offender. "If it bleeds it leads" is cynical TV shorthand for the allure of bloody tales to jack the ratings up. Our print brethren gasp trying to catch up in the titillation department. The ultimate result is harsher treatment of criminals.) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 09:12:25 -0800 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US MA: Record For The Man Imprisoned Longest Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: emr@javanet.com (Dick Evans) Pubdate: Pubdate: 03/17 1999 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 1999 Globe Newspaper Company. Contact: letters@globe.com Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Author: David Nyhan, Globe Columnist RECORD FOR THE MAN IMPRISONED LONGEST Paul Guidel, who was 17 when he committed second-degree murder, lived in a Fishkill, N.Y., prison cell for 68 years, eight months, and two days before being released at age 85. He holds the record for the man imprisoned longest in the United States. He made the Guinness Book of Records. You can look it up. But he has lots of company. The numbers are out again, and the totals are eye-popping: At the rate we're going, we'll have just under 2 million Americans behind bars by the end of 1999. Happy New Year. As of last June, the government counted 1.8 million, an all-time high. And that's not counting the hundreds of thousands of Americans paid to guard, feed, house, inoculate, and otherwise fuss over them. Only Russia imprisons citizens at a higher rate, among the, ahem, advanced countries. We had just under 1.7 million men in prisons and jails run by federal, state, county, and city authorities last June, out of a total of 128 million American males. That means one out of every 76 men is behind bars as we speak, and the number grows daily. At this rate, we're going to run out of men, when you consider the inmate population is six times what it was in the early '70s during Richard Nixon's first term. We cannot sustain these rates. There are as many blacks as whites in prison, but a black male is six times more likely to be sent away as a white male. As many as one out of every four black men between 20 and 30 has had some encounter with the criminal justice system. Only one out of 16 prisoners is female. The New York Times quotes experts saying the prison population explosion is caused by several factors, including longer sentences and a surge in drug-related arrests. In five states, more than one black man out of 10 is disenfranchised - barred from ever voting because of a criminal conviction. Look at it another way: As things stand today, it is as if the total population of Maine and Vermont was behind bars - and we had to hire everyone in Wyoming to guard them. Ludicrous? Of course. But that's our policy. See any change coming? Not in the near term. Politicians love to point to lowered crime rates - crime rates have dropped for the last seven years. Longer sentences and harsher penalties sound great on the evening news. People like to hear that, among them fearful voters, eager-to-please pols, those making money off the billions we spend for new $100,000-a-pop prison cells, where it costs 30 grand a year to keep some wretch locked up. Academic studies have shown a direct correlation between voters' fear of crime and media hype, tabloid outrages exploited by news reports, with television the leading offender. ''If it bleeds it leads'' is cynical TV shorthand for the allure of bloody tales to jack the ratings up. Our print brethren gasp trying to catch up in the titillation department. The ultimate result is harsher treatment of criminals, typically young, poor, nonwhite, ill-educated, socially backward, and, let us be frank, sometimes dumb as a mackerel. Yes, there are many, many prisoners who are vicious, violent, and deservedly tucked away. But there are also hundreds of thousands of prisoners who are nonviolent, who could be handled outside the costly and ineffective prison apparatus, who could benefit from learning to read, compute, talk straight and walk straight, stand straight and live straight. House arrest, ankle bracelets, more parole and probation officers, drug treatment where it is needed, when it is needed, and alcohol and spousal abuse programs would be much more sensible, effective, and economical. No, not every poor boy is a good boy. Yes, there are some people too dangerous to release. But the way we're going is the wrong way. It's the easy way, but it's not the cheap way. It's the dumb way. But rare is the politician who'll buck the mob on this score. The votes of a handful of inmate wives, inmate girlfriends, inmate relatives are drowned out by the cacophony that erupts after every notorious crime, every grisly episode recounted breathlessly by some TV reporter doing a formulaic standup outside the cop shop. Passion is what sells on TV. That's why you hear far more often from the angry cop, the aggrieved victim's family, the posturing politician, than you hear from the more thoughtful, less impassioned folk who have managed to overcome their fears and argue reasonably for humane treatment of inmates. Prison can be a cruel environment, particularly for the young and vulnerable. Vicious things happen behind bars. Stacking all these wayward teenagers in with older, hardened, rotting souls is like storing the gas can next to the oil burner. You have only yourself to blame when it blows. Here's another troubling trend: The Sun Belt states are way out of line with prison sentencing. Louisiana and Texas incarcerate 700 of every 100,000 citizens. Maine locks up criminals at about one-sixth that rate, Vermont at one-fourth. How come? Are they more law-abiding up north? Or are those frugal Yankees wiser when it comes to squandering human potential?
------------------------------------------------------------------- Official U.S. Report Backs Medical Use Of Marijuana (Reuters says the Institute of Medicine report released today looks likely to prompt a thorough review of U.S. efforts to ban almost all marijuana use as dangerous drug abuse. Cannabinoids work on both the brain and the body. They can help to modulate pain and alleviate other symptoms of serious illness such as anxiety, lack of appetite, and nausea. Regarding the smoking of herbal cannabis, the IOM report says, "We acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions." To help these patients, the report suggests doctors be allowed to carry out single-subject clinical studies. Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights, said "They are in effect saying that most of what the government has told us about marijuana is false . . . it's not addictive, it's not a gateway to heroin and cocaine, it has legitimate medical use, and it's not as dangerous as common drugs like Prozac and Viagra.") Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 05:29:23 -0800 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US: MMJ: Wire: Official U.S. Report Backs Medical Use Of Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: General Pulaski Pubdate: 17 Mar 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. OFFICIAL U.S. REPORT BACKS MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - A U.S.-commissioned report released on Wednesday strongly backed the medical use of marijuana, declaring that for some people with serious diseases such as AIDS it may be one of the most effective treatments available. The widely-anticipated report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) was commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and looked likely to prompt a thorough review of U.S. efforts to ban almost all marijuana use as dangerous drug abuse. IOM investigators declared that marijuana was not particularly addictive and did not appear to be a "gateway" to the use of harder drugs such as heroin. They also said there was no evidence to indicate that approved medical use of marijuana would increase public abuse of the drug. The IOM report, the product of more than 18 months of research, highlighted continued concerns over marijuana, noting that the common practice of smoking the drug was medically dangerous and asking for more studies on how the drug really works on the human body. But on almost every front the independent medical review of scientific research and patient experience found "substantial consensus" to indicate that, for some people, the potential medical benefits of marijuana outweigh its risks. "Smoked marijuana should not generally be recommended for long-term medical use," the report said. "Nonetheless, for certain patients such as the terminally ill or those with debilitating symptoms, the long-term risks are not of great concern." The focus of the report was on "cannabinoid" drugs such as THC, the main active element in marijuana. Research over the last 16 years has provided new insight into how these drugs work on both the brain and the body, where they can help to modulate pain, and alleviate other symptoms of serious illness such as anxiety, lack of appetite, and nausea. The report said one focus of new medical and pharmaceutical research should be to design a "non-smoked, rapid onset" delivery system for the drug which could mimic the speedy action of a smoked marijuana cigarette. But the report's authors also noted that some desperately ill patients may not want to wait. "We acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana such as pain or AIDS wasting," they said. To help these patients, the report suggested that doctors be allowed to launch one-by-one clinical studies of marijuana, informing each test subject of the potential risks and rewards of smoking the drug. The IOM report lands amid an increasingly bitter U.S. debate over medical marijuana, launched in 1996 when California became the first state to pass a local initiative aimed at allowing patients with AIDS, cancer, and other serious diseases to use the drug. While federal authorities have used their power to block implementation of the California measure, voters in six more states passed similar initiatives in 1998 -- boosting pressure on the Clinton Administration to consider removing marijuana from the "Schedule I" list of dangerous narcotics. Barry McCaffrey, Clinton's anti-drug "czar" and long an outspoken opponent of relaxing anti-marijuana law, ordered the IOM report in 1997 to give a scientific basis to the discussion, and his office Wednesday responded to the IOM findings with a call for more research. "We will carefully study the recommendations and conclusions contained in this report," the Office of National Drug Control Policy said in a statement. "We look forward to the considered responses from our nation's public health officials to the interim solutions recommended by the report." Supporters of the medical marijuana movement declared the IOM report an unequivocal victory. Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights, the sponsor of six 1998 state marijuana initiatives, said the IOM's findings would radically rework the public image of what has long been one of the United States' most demonised drugs. "They are in effect saying that most of what the government has told us about marijuana is false ... it's not addictive, it's not a gateway to heroin and cocaine, it has legitimate medical use, and it's not as dangerous as common drugs like Prozac and Viagra," he said. "This is about as positive as you can get."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Study: Marijuana Helps Fight Pain (The Associated Press version) From: Mireille Jacobson (MJacobson@sorosny.org) To: TLC_CANNABIS (TLCCANNABIS@sorosny.org) Subject: FW: AP: Study: Marijuana Helps Fight Pain Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 12:05:25 -0500 Sender: owner-tlc-cannabis@mailhost.soros.org Study: Marijuana Helps Fight Pain .c The Associated Press By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID WASHINGTON (AP) -- The active ingredients in marijuana can help fight pain and nausea and thus deserve to be tested in scientific trials, an advisory panel to the federal government said today in a report sure to reignite the debate over whether marijuana is a helpful or harmful drug. The Institute of Medicine also said there was no conclusive evidence that marijuana use leads to harder drugs. In the past few years, voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have approved measures in support of medical marijuana, even though critics say such measures send the wrong message to kids. Congress has taken a hard line on the issue, with the House last fall adopting by 310-93 vote a resolution that said marijuana was a dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for medical use. Asked to examine the issue by the White House drug policy office, the institute said that because the chemicals in marijuana ease anxiety, stimulate the appetite, ease pain and reduce nausea and vomiting, they can be helpful for people undergoing chemotherapy and people with AIDS. The institute, an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences, provides the federal government with independent scientific advice and receives no federal money. But the panel warned that smoking marijuana can cause respiratory disease and called for the development of standardized forms of the drugs, called cannabinoids, that can be taken, for example, by inhaler. ``Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact that patients must inhale harmful smoke,'' said Stanley Watson of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, one of the study's principal investigators. Even so, the panel said, there may be cases where patients could in the meantime get relief from smoked marijuana, especially since it might take years to develop an inhaler. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said it would carefully study the recommendations. ``We note in the report's conclusion that the future of cannabinoid drugs lies not in smoked marijuana, but in chemically defined drugs'' delivered by other means, the office headed by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said in a statement. One patient called the findings long overdue. ``It's taken a long time, but I feel like now, people will stand up and listen,'' said Irvin Rosenfeld, a Boca Raton, Fla., stockbroker who has smoked marijuana supplied by the federal government for 27 years because of a rare medical condition. ``When you have a devastating disease, all you care about is getting the right medicine ... and not having to worry about being made a criminal,'' said Rosenfeld. He suffers from tumors that press into the muscles at the end of long bones. The marijuana relaxes those muscles, keeping them from being torn by the tumors and allowing him to move with less pain. Rosenfeld is one of just eight people in the country receiving marijuana from the government because of unusual diseases. The panel urged clinical trials to determine the usefulness of marijuana in treating muscle spasms. While it also has been promoted as a treatment for glaucoma, the panel said smoked marijuana only temporarily reduces some of the eye pressure associated with that disease. Daniel Zingale of AIDS Action said he is ``pleased that the study validates the benefits of medicinal marijuana.'' Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project said the report ``shoots down'' claims that marijuana has no medical benefits. Opponents of allowing medical use of marijuana long have claimed that it is a ``gateway'' drug, giving people a start on the road to more dangerous drugs such as heroin and cocaine. But the report concludes there is ``no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.'' In fact, the report concludes, most drug users did not begin with marijuana but rather started by using tobacco and alcohol while they were underage. The New England Journal of Medicine has editorialized in favor of medical marijuana and the American Medical Association has urged the federal National Institutes of Health to support more research on the subject. An expert panel formed by NIH found in 1997 that existing research showed some patients could be helped by the drug, principally to relieve nausea after cancer chemotherapy or to increase AIDS patients' appetites. The drug also has helped some patients control glaucoma, that panel found. AP-NY-03-17-99 1015EST Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. Ty Trippet Director of Communications The Lindesmith Center 400 West 59th Street New York, NY 10019 212-548-0604 212-548-4670-fax mailto: ttrippet@sorosny.org http://www.lindesmith.org
------------------------------------------------------------------- Federal Panel Recommends Scientific Trials Of Medical (A slightly different Associated Press version in the Seattle Times) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 17:20:45 -0800 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US: MMJ: Federal Panel Recommends Scientific Trials Of Medical Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: John Smith Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Copyright: 1999 The Seattle Times Company Contact: opinion@seatimes.com Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/ Author: Randolph E. Schmid, The Associated Press FEDERAL PANEL RECOMMENDS SCIENTIFIC TRIALS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA WASHINGTON - The active ingredients in marijuana can help fight pain and nausea and thus deserve to be tested in scientific trials, a federal advisory panel said today in a report sure to reignite the debate over whether marijuana is a helpful or a harmful drug. The Institute of Medicine also said there was no conclusive evidence that marijuana use leads to harder drugs. In the past few years, voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state have approved measures in support of medical marijuana, even though critics say such measures send the wrong message to children. Congress has taken a hard line on the issue, with the House last fall adopting by 310-93 vote a resolution that said marijuana was a dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for medical use. Asked by the White House drug-policy office to examine the issue, the institute, which is an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences, said that because the chemicals in marijuana ease anxiety, stimulate the appetite, ease pain and reduce nausea and vomiting, they can be helpful for people who are undergoing chemotherapy and people with AIDS. But the panel warned that smoking marijuana can cause respiratory disease and called for the development of standardized forms of the drugs, called cannabinoids, that can be taken, for example, by inhaler. "Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact that patients must inhale harmful smoke," said Stanley Watson of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, one of the study's principal investigators. Even so, the panel said, there may be cases where patients could in the meantime get relief from smoked marijuana, especially since it might take years to develop an inhaler. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said it would study the recommendations. One patient called the findings long overdue. "It's taken a long time, but I feel like now, people will stand up and listen," said Irvin Rosenfeld, a Boca Raton, Fla., stockbroker who has smoked marijuana supplied by the federal government for 27 years because of a rare medical condition. "When you have a devastating disease, all you care about is getting the right medicine . . . and not having to worry about being made a criminal," said Rosenfeld. He suffers from tumors that press into the muscles at the end of long bones. The marijuana relaxes those muscles, keeping them from being torn by the tumors and allowing him to move with less pain. Rosenfeld is one of just eight people in the country receiving marijuana from the government because of unusual diseases. The panel urged clinical trials to determine the usefulness of marijuana in treating muscle spasms. While it also has been promoted as a treatment for glaucoma, the panel said smoked marijuana only temporarily reduces some of the eye pressure associated with that disease. Opponents of allowing medical use of marijuana long have claimed that it is a "gateway" drug, giving people a start on the road to more dangerous drugs such as heroin and cocaine. But the report concludes that most drug users began with tobacco and alcohol while they were under age, and it said there is "no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Report: Marijuana May Have Medical Uses (The UPI version has a hard time getting past drug-warrior preconceptions.) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 10:14:16 -0800 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US: Wire: Report: Marijuana May Have Medical Uses Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: Dave Fratello (104730.1000@compuserve.com) Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Source: United Press International Copyright: 1999 United Press International Feedback: http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_forms/sn_ctact.htm Author: ELLEN BECK UPI Science News WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- A government-funded report says smoked marijuana is potentially effective for a short list of symptoms, recommends rigorous clinical trials and development of a delivery system so patients do not have to inhale. The 18-month, $1 million Institute of Medicine report released today in Washington makes six recommendations, including clinical trials allowing patients with chronic conditions or end-stage diseases, who have no other alternative, to use smoked marijuana on an experimental basis for six months. The IOM report, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," was ordered by drug czar Barry McCaffrey in 1997 after California and Arizona passed state laws making medical marijuana legal as long as it is prescribed by a physician. Voters in Alaska, Washington State and Oregon in 1998 passed similar laws and other states are readying ballot measures. In 1982, the IOM made its first report on medical marijuana, in which it said cannabis and its derivatives had "shown promise" in treating a variety of disorders, including glaucoma, asthma and nausea from chemotherapy treatment. The IOM's latest report says smoked marijuana, as compared to the synthetic pill Marinol, which is legal, is potentially effective in treating chronic pain, nausea from cancer chemotherapy, lack of appetite and wasting in AIDS patients. The report follows several public hearings and months of examining the existing scientific database. "Marijuana's medical effects are generally modest and for most symptoms there are more effective medications already available on the market," co-author John Benson Jr. said in a statement. The report rebukes long-held beliefs by many physicians that smoked marijuana is effective for treating glaucoma, adding relief of pressure on the eye is only temporary, and it does not endorse using the drug to treat Parkinson's or Huntington's diseases, seizures, migraines and a host of other ailments doctors believe are helped by it. "Although marijuana smoke delivers THC (its active agent) and other cannabinoids to the body, it also delivers harmful substances, including most of those found in tobacco smoke," the report says. Beyond the smoking issue, however, the IOM said the range of problems associated with medical marijuana is within the acceptable range of problems associated with the use of other drugs. In calling for development of a new delivery system so patients do not have to smoke marijuana cigarettes, the IOM says research also should continue into the effects, both positive and negative, of synthetic and plant-derived cannabinoids. It warns the marijuana plant contains a "variable mixture" of biological compounds that "cannot be expected to provide a precisely defined drug effect" so the future of medical marijuana is not in smoked delivery but in the development of "chemically defined drugs" that are predictable and safe. The report notes that while cannabinoids have a natural role in pain control, the brain can develop tolerances to the drug, and it's impact on the immune system is unclear. And while there is evidence smoking marijuana often precedes use of harder drugs, the report says there is no conclusive evidence that it acts as a "gateway" that actually causes people to take that next step. Sandra Bennett, director of the Northwest Center for Health & Safety and president of Drug Watch International, says scientific studies have failed to show marijuana is safe or effective for medical use. "But there are studies that show it is harmful," Bennett says. "On top of that is the fact that it is harmful as a psychoactive and addictive substance that should not be mainstreamed." The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, calls the report a political document, not a scientific one. It says the IOM ignored testimony from hundreds of patients who have found relief smoking marijuana that other medications did not provide and is holding marijuana to a higher standard than other drugs. "The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act does not require a drug to demonstrate superiority over all existing medicines before receiving federal approval and no such hurdle exists for any other drug," says Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation executive director. The IOM is a private, non-profit organization that operates under a congressional charter grant to the National Academy of Sciences.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Marijuana Report Draws Mixed Reactions (A quite different UPI version quotes Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School, who wrote 20 pages of criticism as a peer reviewer for the IOM report, saying "they certainly have shied away from an honest assessment of its use as a medicine." Grinspoon criticized the report for, among other things, emphasizing the hazards of smoking. He said machines have been developed overseas that allow for the vapors of marijuana to be delivered to patients without smoking the plant. Dr. Kathleen Boyle, a psychologist at the UCLA Drug Abuse Research program, said she was "pleasantly surprised" by the report . . . . "but I think they too narrowly focused on AIDS and cancer-type diseases.") Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 22:15:31 -0800 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US: Wire: Marijuana Report Draws Mixed Reactions Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: General Pulaski Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Source: United Press International Copyright: 1999 United Press International Feedback: http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_forms/sn_ctact.htm Author: ELLEN BECK MARIJUANA REPORT DRAWS MIXED REACTIONS WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) - The Institute of Medicine's report recommending more clinical trials on the effects of marijuana as a medicine is drawing mixed reactions from the scientific and medical communities. ``They can't say there is not a shred of evidence, as the government would like,'' said Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard, who wrote 20 pages of criticism as a peer reviewer for the $1 million government-funded report issued today. ``But they certainly have shied away from an honest assessment of its use as a medicine,'' Grinspoon said. The IOM spent 18 months interviewing patients, holding public hearings and examining the scientific database on medical marijuana. Its report recommends rigorous clinical trials on the efficacy and safety of the drug in conjunction with the development of a smokeless delivery system and new synthetic formulations of cannibinoids, the active agents found in the marijuana plant. White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey, who ordered the report, said while the report says there's ``little future'' for medically smoked marijuana, ``The door should remain always open for evidence-based research on this or other compounds.'' He said the administration was not rethinking the federal government's opposition to state initiatives seeking to legalize marijuana. While acknowledging the potential use in the treatment of nausea from cancer chemotherapy, in increasing appetite in AIDS patients and in alleviating chronic pain, the report downplayed marijuana's use in many other ailments and diseases. It warned that the positive value is offset by side effects of smoking. It did, however, support controlled, short-term use in clinical trials by chronically ill or dying patients for whom other medications did not work. President Clinton's press secretary Joe Lockhart said today said the government respects the handful of states that have passed laws legalizing the medical use of marijuana but added, ``These are complex, scientific issues that ought to be debated on a scientific basis.'' Grinspoon criticized the report for ignoring anecdotal evidence from patients who have found relief with marijuana for a variety of symptoms, and for emphasizing the hazards of smoking. ``So there is a way to do this now,'' he said, adding that even if patients do smoke marijuana he is not convinced they ``are going to do great damage to their lungs.'' He said patients using medical marijuana actually smoke only a puff or two to get the relief and one marijuana cigarette may last a long time. He compared that to smokers who inhale two packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years, placing them at high risk for lung cancer. Grinspoon said machines have been developed overseas that allow for the vapors of the marijuana plant to be delivered to patients without smoking the plant. Study co-author, Dr. Stanley Watson said he respected Grinspoon's comments but argued investigators spent nine days interviewing patients who used medical marijuana, who he called ``brave and very informative.'' ``These are guideposts, in our view,'' Watson said. ``We did not ignore them and to a degree we did embrace them. One such patient is Jim Harden, who uses smoked marijuana to alleviate the pain and nausea caused by multi-system failure brought on by Hepatitis C. He and other patients brought to the IOM news conference by the activist group, the Marijuana Policy Project of Washington, argued federal laws making the use of the drug a crime need to be repealed. ``Why arrest someone who is sick,'' said Harden, who is suffering from end-stage liver disease. Critics have said the report would not lead to changing marijuana from a prohibited Schedule I drug to a controlled Schedule II medication, and say the government is giving only lip service to the issue in hopes it will go away. Dr. Jane Marmor, of the California Medical Association, was happy with the report, however, and said it took the issue of medical marijuana to the right place. ``They actually recommended an action,'' she said. ``They were saying there should be clinical trials conducted under limited circumstances because there is the long-term effect of smoking.'' The CMA has had a long-standing position in support of the study of medical marijuana and Marmor is on the state task force set up to devise ways to implement Proposition 215, the state law allowing the use of medical marijuana. She agreed with the IOM's statement that marijuana is not a gateway drug that causes people to move into harder drug use. ``I thought it (the report) was quite thorough,'' Marmor said. ``I thought it was quite reasonable.'' Dr. Kathleen Boyle, a psychologist at the UCLA Drug Abuse Research program, said she was ``pleasantly surprised'' by the report, but finds some shortcomings. ``I think it may make a difference,'' Boyle said. ``I thought it would be much more cautious and much more bland. I feel that they've done a fairly good job of going over the science base, but I think they too narrowly focused on AIDS and cancer-type diseases.'' She strongly disagreed with the authors' conclusion that the effects of medical marijuana were modest, saying her studies showed the ``effects on symptoms are very robust.'' She also took issue with the report's conclusion that the marijuana plant provides a variable effect and that taking the synthetic pill provides better relief. Boyle said Marinol, the prescription pill based on an active ingredient of marijuana, actually produces highly variable effects. She added nausea or chronic pain sufferers do not want to wait for a pill to get into their system. ``It's much easier to make the plant product more predictable,'' she said.``The smoked marijuana is so effective and it's as instantaneous as you can get.'' One IOM recommendation drew questions and raised eyebrows. It said clinical trials in which patients use smoked marijuana should involve ``an oversight strategy comparable to an institutional review board process that could provide guidance within 24 hours of a submission by a physician to provide marijuana to a patient for a specified use.'' It wasn't clear whether the IOM was recommending establishment of a new governing entity or referring to existing criteria for conducting clinical trials. Marmor said the wording ``seemed inappropriate'' in the sense of clinical trial guidelines and Boyle wondered who would meet the qualifications of the review board.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Federal Report Reignites Medical Marijuana Debate - Panel Finds Therapeutic Benefits (The CNN version) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 10:41:33 -0800 To: maptalk@mapinc.org, mattalk@islandnet.com From: Pat Dolan (pdolan@intergate.bc.ca) Subject: US: Panel Finds Therapeutic Benefits In Marihuana FYI CNN.com Report March 17, 1999 FEDERAL REPORT REIGNITES MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATE Panel Finds Therapeutic Benefits March 17, 1999 Congress: Marijuana 'Dangerous' Push For Smoking Substitute Patients Hail Report Not Linked To Hard Drugs WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Greg Scott has AIDS. He says smoking marijuana is not something he does for recreation -- but to survive. "In fact, I'm certain that, had it not been for marijuana, I would have died," Scott said. A report released Wednesday by a federal advisory panel backs up claims by some doctors, and patients like Scott, that marijuana can play an important role in medical treatment. The report, by the Institute of Medicine, said that for many, marijuana does have "therapeutic value" for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting and appetite stimulation. The institute also said that there was no conclusive evidence that marijuana use leads to harder drugs. In Scott's case, his weight dropped dramatically when he first started taking drugs called protease inhibitors to prolong his life. But he said smoking marijuana helped him alleviate the drugs' side effects -- nausea, loss of appetite and pain. "Marijuana is the perfect medicine for this because it both suppresses nausea and increases your appetite," he said. Congress: Marijuana 'dangerous' In the past few years, voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have approved measures in support of marijuana for medicinal purposes, even though critics say such measures send the wrong message to children. Congress has taken a hard line on the issue, with the House last fall adopting a resolution that said marijuana was a dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for medical use. Asked to examine the issue by the White House drug policy office, the institute, which is an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences, said that the chemicals in marijuana can be especially helpful for people undergoing chemotherapy and people with AIDS. Push for smoking substitute But the panel warned that smoking marijuana can cause respiratory disease, and called for the development of standardized forms of the drugs, called cannabinoids, that can be taken, for example, by inhaler. "Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact that patients must inhale harmful smoke," said Stanley Watson of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, one of the study's principal investigators. Even so, the panel said, there may be cases where patients could in the meantime get relief from smoking marijuana, especially since it might take years to develop an inhaler. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said it would carefully study the recommendations. "We note in the report's conclusion that the future of cannabinoid drugs lies not in smoked marijuana, but in chemically defined drugs" delivered by other means, the office headed by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said in a statement. Patients hail report Some patients are calling the findings long overdue. "Marijuana saved my life," Scott said. "I have no doubts about it and you don't need to show me any data." "It's taken a long time, but I feel like now, people will stand up and listen," said Irvin Rosenfeld, a stockbroker who has smoked marijuana supplied by the federal government for 27 years because of a rare medical condition. "When you have a devastating disease, all you care about is getting the right medicine ... and not having to worry about being made a criminal," Rosenfeld said. Rosenfeld suffers from tumors that press into his muscles. The marijuana relaxes those muscles, keeping them from being torn by the tumors and allowing him to move with less pain. The panel urged clinical trials to determine the usefulness of marijuana in treating muscle spasms. While it also has been promoted as a treatment for glaucoma, the panel said smoking marijuana only temporarily reduces some of the eye pressure associated with that disease. Not linked to hard drugs Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project said the report "shoots down" claims that marijuana has no medical benefits. Opponents of allowing medical use of marijuana long have claimed that it is a "gateway" drug, giving people a start on the road to more dangerous drugs such as heroin and cocaine. But the report concludes there is "no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs." In fact, the report concludes, most drug users did not begin with marijuana but rather started by using tobacco and alcohol while they were underage. The New England Journal of Medicine has editorialized in favor of marijuana and the American Medical Association has urged the National Institutes of Health to support more research on the subject. An expert panel formed by NIH found in 1997 that existing research showed some patients could be helped by the drug, principally to relieve nausea after cancer chemotherapy or to increase AIDS patients' appetites. The drug also has helped some patients control glaucoma, that panel found. Medical Correspondent Eileen O'Connor and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 1999 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Marijuana's Components Have Potential as Medicine; Clinical Trials, Drug Development Should Proceed (The official National Academy of Sciences press release about the Institute of Medicine report being released today.) Date: March 17, 1999 Contacts: Dan Quinn, Media Relations Officer Brad Bortone, Media Relations Assistant (202) 334-2138; e-mail (news@nas.edu) EMBARGOED: NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE BEFORE 11 A.M. EST WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17 Marijuana's Components Have Potential as Medicine; Clinical Trials, Drug Development Should Proceed WASHINGTON -- Marijuana's active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AIDS wasting, and other symptoms, and should be tested rigorously in clinical trials, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Such trials should be carried out in parallel with the development of new delivery mechanisms for the drug that are safe, fast-acting, and reliable, but do not involve inhaling harmful smoke. Moreover, clinical trials of marijuana use should be approved by institutional review boards, and should involve only short-term use among patients who are most likely to benefit from treatment. "Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact that patients must inhale harmful smoke," said Stanley Watson, co-principal investigator of the IOM study, and co-director and research scientist at the Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "Until researchers develop a safe and effective delivery system, caregivers must consider the health problems that can result from smoking when deciding whether to recommend marijuana to patients." Voters in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington approved referenda in 1998 in support of the legal medical use of marijuana; California passed such an initiative in 1996. Public opinion on medical use of marijuana has been sharply divided. To help illuminate the policy debate, the IOM examined all relevant scientific evidence and found "substantial consensus" about the drug's potential effectiveness, as well as the health problems it can cause. Marijuana is a powerful drug that produces a variety of biological effects. While the most common effect is euphoria, it also can lower a user's control over movement and cause occasional disorientation and other unpleasant feelings. Some chronic users can develop dependence on marijuana, though withdrawal symptoms are relatively mild and short-lived. The usefulness of medical marijuana is limited by the harmful effects of smoking, which can increase a person's risk of cancer, lung damage, and problems with pregnancies, such as low birth weight. Therefore, smoking marijuana should only be recommended for terminally ill patients, or those with debilitating symptoms that do not respond to approved medications, the report says. Beyond the harmful effects from smoking, however, the range of problems associated with marijuana is not out of line with those of substances used in other medicines. Potential Uses "Marijuana's medical effects are generally modest, and for most symptoms there are more effective medicines already available on the market," said co-principal investigator John Benson Jr., dean and professor of medicine emeritus, Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine, Portland. "For patients who do not respond well to other medications, however, short-term marijuana use appears to be suitable in treating conditions like chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, or the wasting caused by AIDS." Data do not support the contention that marijuana should be used to treat glaucoma, which is one of its most frequently cited medical applications. Smoked marijuana can reduce some of the eye pressure associated with glaucoma, but only for a short period of time. These short-term effects do not outweigh the hazards associated with regular long-term use of the drug. Also, with the exception of muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis, there is little evidence of its potential for treating movement disorders like Parkinson's disease or Huntington's disease, the report says. For people with chronic conditions and no alternative to smoking marijuana, one approach would be to permit them to smoke marijuana on an experimental basis, fully informing them that they are experimental subjects and are using a harmful drug delivery system. Their condition also should be closely monitored and documented under medical supervision, which would increase what is known about the risks and benefits of medical marijuana use. For these and other patients, clinical trials should be designed to study the psychological effects of the compounds in marijuana, such as anxiety reduction and sedation, which the report says are probably important determinants of the drugs' potential therapeutic value. Future Drug Development The effects of marijuana derive from a group of compounds known as cannabinoids, including THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient of marijuana. Some compounds act on cannabinoid receptors that occur naturally in the body, where they are involved in pain, control of movement, and memory. Cannabinoids also may play a role in the immune system, though that role remains unclear. Knowledge of cannabinoid biology has progressed rapidly in recent years, pointing the way to new, potentially promising avenues for drug development. Basic research has revealed a variety of cellular pathways through which potentially therapeutic drugs could act on cannabinoid receptor systems. Such drugs might include chemical derivatives of plant-derived cannabinoids, of those compounds that occur naturally in the body, or even of other drugs that act on the cannabinoid system. The only cannabinoid-based drug on the market, Marinol, is THC in pill form. It is approved by the FDA for nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy, as well as for anorexia and weight loss associated with AIDS. For drug development, cannabinoid compounds that are produced in the laboratory are preferable to plant products because they deliver a consistent dose and are made under controlled conditions. Research should continue into the physiological effects of both synthetic and plant-derived compounds and the natural function of those found in the body, the report says. New drugs will only be developed from marijuana's compounds if public investments are made in research, or if the private sector has enough incentives to develop and market such drugs. In addition to the medical questions, the IOM was asked to assess other issues related to marijuana use. The report says that although marijuana use often precedes the use of harder drugs, there is no conclusive evidence that marijuana acts as a "gateway" drug that actually causes people to make this progression. Also, there is no evidence that approving the medical use of marijuana would increase its use among the general population, particularly if marijuana were regulated as closely as other medications with the potential to be abused. The study was funded by the Office of the National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President. The Institute of Medicine is a private, non-profit organization that provides health policy advice under a congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences. *** Pre-publication copies of Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base are available from the National Academy Press at the mailing address in the letterhead; tel. (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. The cost of the report is $44.95 (prepaid) plus shipping charges of $4.50 for the first copy and $.95 for each additional copy. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information at the letterhead address (contacts listed above). Copyright 1998 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------- IOM Medical Marijuana Report is Important First Step in the Right Direction (A press release from the Drug Policy Foundation comments on the Institute of Medicine's review of the scientific literature on marijuana as medicine.) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 13:01:40 EST Originator: dpnews@dpf.org Sender: dpnews@dpf.org From: "Drug Policy News Service" (dpf-mod@dpf.org) To: Multiple recipients of list (dpnews@dpf.org) Subject: Press Release: IOM Medical Marijuana Report is Important First Step DRUG POLICY FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE DRUG POLICY FOUNDATION FINDS INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE REPORT TO BE A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON, March 17 - Drug Policy Foundation analysts welcomed a National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine report as incremental progress toward federal government recognition of the medical benefits of marijuana. The IOM report praised the medical value of compounds found in marijuana such as THC and cannabidiol. "The accumulated data indicate a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid drugs, particularly for symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation," the report says. "[The evidence] suggests that cannabinoids would be moderately well-suited for certain conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting." The IOM report also found "substantial consensus" about marijuana's potential effectiveness. "We acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS or wasting," the report said. The IOM report was commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in response to the overwhelming success of medical marijuana ballot issues in California and Arizona in 1996. ONDCP director Barry McCaffrey has repeatedly blasted medical marijuana in press appearances and op-ed articles. On August 15, 1996 McCaffrey told the San Francisco Chronicle, "There is not a shred of scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is useful or needed. This is not medicine. This is a cruel hoax." "This report should come as a wake-up call to Gen. McCaffrey," DPF senior policy analyst Scott Ehlers said. "The IOM report that he commissioned put to sleep his 'cruel hoax' theory. This is another in a long line of medical reports that outlines the benefits of medical marijuana. "Hopefully, this IOM report can be the first step in removing politics from the debate over medical marijuana. Medical issues should be between a patient and his or her doctor. Countless studies over the last 20 years have shown that marijuana has significant medical benefits. The Department of Health and Human Services, which currrently has a marijuana rescheduling petition before it, should seriously consider recommending the rescheduling of marijuana to Schedule III and the Food and Drug Administration should move toward approving marijuana as a drug that can be prescribed by doctors." Ehlers pointed out that the IOM report did set barriers for medical marijuana that exist for no other drugs. IOM researchers recommended that some patients use smoked marijuana only after other drugs have failed. The government doesn't require any other drug to demonstrate "superiority" over all existing drugs before it can be approved. "The first step the federal government should take is to stop harassing the residents of the District of Columbia and the residents of the six states that approved medical marijuana at the ballot box," Ehlers said. "Federal agents should stop interfering with the doctor-patient relationship and existing state law. No one should be arrested for taking medicine that helps them gain weight after AIDS-related wasting or for other illnesses." Senior policy analyst Scott Ehlers will be available to the media all day Wednesday. He can be reached at (202) 537-5005. For more information, please contact DPF's deputy communications director, Tyler Green, at (202) 537-5005. To discuss the resceduling petition before the Department of Health and Human Services, please contact the petitioner, John Gettman, at: (540) 822-9002. *** The Drug Policy Foundation is the nation's oldest and largest membership drug policy reform group. Established in 1986, DPF has over 23,000 supporters.
------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Government Study: Benefits of Medical Marijuana Outweigh Risks, Long-Awaited Science Review Concludes (A similar press release from the Lindesmith Center) From: Ty Trippet (TTrippet@sorosny.org) Subject: U.S. Government Study: Medical Marijuana Benefits Outweigh Risks Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 13:40:22 -0500 Sender: owner-tlc-cannabis@mailhost.soros.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 17, 1999 Contact: Ty Trippet 212/548-0604 David Mickenberg 212/548-0383 U.S. GOVERNMENT STUDY: BENEFITS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA OUTWEIGH RISKS, LONG-AWAITED SCIENCE REVIEW CONCLUDES WASHINGTON, D.C. - A powerful voice today gave a new level of support to access to marijuana for medical purposes. The Institute of Medicine (IOM), a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, says in a new report released today that smoked marijuana is effective at treating pain, chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting, and the poor appetite and wasting caused by AIDS or advanced cancer. The IOM investigators declared that marijuana was not particularly addictive and did not appear to be a "gateway" to the use of harder drugs such as heroin or cocaine. "When it comes to medical marijuana, public opinion and science are on one side, the drug czar and Congress on the other," said Ethan Nadelmann, founder and director of The Lindesmith Center. "Unfortunately the same can be said for much of U.S. drug policy. What's most needed now is a moratorium on the political grandstanding and fear-mongering that fuels the country's failed war on drugs. Americans will support common sense, science-based policies if given half a chance." The IOM report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, makes the following points about marijuana's medical use: * "[I]t will likely be years before a safe and effective cannabinoid delivery system, such as an inhaler, will be available for patients. In the meantime, there are patients with debilitating symptoms for whom smoked marijuana might provide relief." * "[E]xcept for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana are within the range of effects tolerated for other medications." * "The short-term immunosuppressive effects [of marijuana] are not well established but, if they exist, are not likely great enough to preclude a legitimate medical use." * "AIDS wasting patients would likely benefit from a medication that simultaneously reduces anxiety, pain and nausea while stimulating appetite." Based in New York, the Lindesmith Center is a drug policy research institute that concentrates on broadening the drug policy debate. The Lindesmith Center (www.lindesmith.org) is a project of the Open Society Institute, the nonprofit foundation established by philanthropist George Soros to promote the development of open societies around the world. The founder and director of The Lindesmith Center is Ethan Nadelmann, J.D., Ph.D. , author of Cops Across Borders: The Internationalization of U.S. Criminal Law Enforcement (Penn State Press, 1993) as well as numerous articles on drug control policy in leading scholarly and popular journals. For more information about the science behind the medical use of marijuana, visit http://www.medmjscience.org. Full text of the Institute of Medicine report executive summary is available at http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/enter2.cgi?0309071550.html. *** Ty Trippet Director of Communications The Lindesmith Center 400 West 59th Street New York, NY 10019 212-548-0604 212-548-4670-fax mailto: ttrippet@sorosny.org http://www.lindesmith.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Institute of Medicine Releases Report on Medicinal Marijuana (A company press
release from Roxane Laboratories, Inc., the manufacturer of Marinol,
ungrammatically asserts that the ONDCP and IOM agree that "chemically-defined
drugs" such as Marinol is the future of cannabinoid drugs.)
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 08:39:10 -0500
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
From: Mike Gogulski (mike-map@cat.net)
Subject: ONDCP: Scream louder
Reply-To: mike-map@cat.net
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
(PR Newswire; 03/17/99)
Institute of Medicine Releases Report on Medicinal Marijuana
ONDCP and IOM Agree That 'Chemically-Defined Drugs' - Like Marinol -
Not Smoked Marijuana is the Future of Cannabinoid Drugs.
WASHINGTON, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Institute of Medicine (IOM)
released its report "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base."
The report was prompted by a request from the Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP) to explore the potential medical benefits and risks of
marijuana. The IOM report recommends additional scientific based research on
the risks and benefits of marijuana in a number of areas.
Regarding the IOM report, the ONDCP concluded, "We note the report's
conclusion that 'the future of cannabinoid drugs lies not in smoked
marijuana, but in chemically-defined drugs that act on the cannabinoid
receptors that are a natural component of human physiology.'" In the past,
General Barry McCaffrey, the Director of ONDCP, has noted the availability
of MARINOL; a legally available, FDA approved pharmaceutical product that
contains synthetic THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana.
Marinol (dronabinol) has been proven an effective drug for the treatment of
anorexia or appetite loss associated with AIDS. It was first brought onto the
market in 1985 for the treatment of refractory nausea and vomiting
associated with cancer chemotherapy. In 1992, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) approved a supplemental new drug application for Marinol
for the treatment of appetite loss or anorexia associated with weight loss in
AIDS patients.
Marinol is generally well tolerated with side effects usually being mild and
reversible by lowering of the drug's dose. The most common side effects
involve the central nervous system and include things like sleepiness,
dizziness and euphoria (or giddiness).
In clinical trials, and in use by thousands of patients, MARINOL has been
shown to be effective in stimulating the appetite in a significant numbers of
HIV/AIDS patients. "This drug is highly effective in helping patients
increase their appetite," said Gary Cohan, M.D, vice president of Pacific
Oaks Medical Group in Beverly Hills, California -- the largest private
medical practice in the U.S. devoted to HIV treatment and research. "With
proper titration, I can achieve the desired results with little or no side
effects and unlike marijuana, it can be used in a work setting, meaning that
I can get my patients back to work and into their old routine again."
Roxane Laboratories, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of ethical human
pharmaceutical products with a strong commitment to HIV and palliative care.
The Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation,
located in Ridgefield, CT, and is part of the Boehringer Ingelheim world-wide
group of companies, based in Ingelheim, Germany. A privately held company
founded in 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is a major pharmaceutical, chemical,
and animal health products provider with operations in more than 100
countries around the world.
Unimed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, holds the NDA for
dronabinol and copromotes Marinol with Roxane Laboratories.
SOURCE Roxane Laboratories, Inc.
03/17/99
/CONTACT: Daniel A. Nowalk
Manager
Public Affairs of Roxane Laboratories, Inc.
614-241-4114/
CO: Institute of Medicine; Office of National Drug Control Policy;
Roxane Laboratories, Inc.; Unimed Pharmaceuticals ST: District of Columbia,
Connecticut, Illinois IN: MTC SU:
{PRNewswire:Healthcare-0317.04068} 03/17/99
------------------------------------------------------------------- Reefer Madness or Reefer Medicine? (Cable News Network broadcasts a panel discussion about the medical marijuana report released today by the Institute of Medicine. Mary Tillotson moderates commentary from General Barry McCaffrey, former cancer patient Richard Brookhiser of the National Review, Betty Sembler of Drug Free America; and Dr. Ann Mohrbacher, a cancer specialist at the University of Southern California.) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 09:49:04 -0600 From: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com) Organization: Rx Cannabis Now! http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/ To: DPFCA (dpfca@drugsense.org) Subject: DPFCA: MEDIA ALERT: Medical Marijuana on CNN & Company 11:30 ET Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/ 11:30 a.m. ET CNN & COMPANY with Mary Tillotson Topic: Medical Marijuana Guests: Cancer Patient Richard Brookhiser, Betty Sembler, Drug Free America, Dr. Ann Mohrbacher, Gen. Barry McCaffrey *** Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 13:28:42 -0800 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US: CNN: MMJ: Reefer Madness or Reefer Medicine? Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: rlake@mapinc.org Source: CNN & Company Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Feedback: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/ Forum: http://www.cnn.com/discussion/ Website: http://www.cnn.com/ REEFER MADNESS OR REEFER MEDICINE? Aired March 17, 1999 - 11:30 a.m. ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. MARY TILLOTSON, HOST: Reefer madness or reefer medicine? A new study out this morning on the medical use of marijuana. Thanks for joining us. I'm Mary Tillotson. About half an hour ago, an outfit called The Institute of Medicine, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences, released a new study on using marijuana as medicine. The study found that, yep, smoking marijuana can help some patients more than it hurts them, that it's not particularly addictive, that it does not lead users to try harder stuff like heroin, and there's no particular reason to believe medical use of marijuana will lead to more recreational use of the drug. The report confirms smoking marijuana can relieve patients who are nauseated and losing weight from AIDS or chemotherapy for cancer but the new study does not conclude those folks should be able to just pick up pot at the local drug store. Instead, the report wants doctors and pharmaceutical researchers to come up with a new delivery system that works as fast and effectively as smoking marijuana without the harmful side effects of inhaling that smoke. General Barry McCaffrey is head of the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy. He commissioned the medical marijuana study a year and a half ago. He's on the phone with us from Los Angeles. General McCaffrey, thank you for joining us. BARRY McCAFFREY, DRUG CONTROL POLICY DIRECTOR: Good to be here, Mary. TILLOTSON: This report is not exactly what you might have wished for, is it? McCAFFREY: We really think they've satisfied our requirements beautifully. Dr. John Benson and Dr. Stanley Watson that did this study really have moved this discussion where it belongs, back into the field of science and medicine. So let me just say unequivocally we thank them for their work. And they have contributed to a rational look at using cannabinoids in research to find out whether they have utility to control some symptoms of certain diseases. TILLOTSON: Since both you and the Clinton administration, General, have been very much opposed to legalizing marijuana at the state level, which as you know has certainly happened in several states, does this in any way make you or do you think the administration in general rethink that position? McCAFFREY: No. I think really we're where we need to be. The study concludes there's little future on smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication. I don't think that's where the field is going. What may well be though, they've noted that advances in cannabinoid science in the last 16 years opened a real wealth of new opportunities for development of some medically useful cannabinoid-based drug. So I think where we'll need to - what we'll need to do is what the National Institute of Health, Dr. Harold Varmis (ph), and people like Dr. Alan Leshner at NIDA look at this and determine what we can do to advance research on these potential symptom-controlling compounds. TILLOTSON: And so you think the idea of this mention in the study of finding a new delivery system such as an inhaler has some merit? McCAFFREY: Sure, absolutely. And I think on top of that, what they're really suggesting is that, you know, in the 1980s, THC, one of the most active of the cannabinoids in smoked marijuana, was isolated is now available in pharmacies with a prescription from a doctor. And there may well be more of these cannabinoid compounds that can be isolated and also could provide medical benefits. So the door should remain always open for evidence-based research on this or any other compound. TILLOTSON: General Barry McCaffrey, I understand out in Los Angeles you're going to have your own news conference responding to this in about half an hour, a little bit less? McCAFFREY: Indeed, Mary. TILLOTSON: We'll hear more from you then. Thank you, General McCaffrey. Joining our conversation now from New York, Richard Brookhiser. He is an author and senior editor at the "National Review." His latest book is "Alexander Hamilton, American." He's also, by the way, a former cancer patient and knows personally about the medical use of marijuana. Betty Sembler started the Drug Free America Foundation nearly 25 years ago in Florida. She's joining us from Miami this morning. And from Los Angeles, Dr. Ann Mohrbacher, who teaches at the University of Southern California and is in private practice as a cancer specialist. We are very glad to have all three of you here. Since you're the patient of the day, Richard, tell us about your own experience. You got familiar with the debate about medical marijuana and what it can or cannot do for chemotherapy patients when you were one of those back in 1992? RICHARD BROOKHISER, FORMER CANCER PATIENT: That's right. I was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1992, and I underwent a course of chemotherapy that lasted over four months. And halfway through, I could tell that the legal anti-nausea drugs I was getting, which were the newest thing at the time, very good drugs, they were not going to continue to do the job. The effects of the chemotherapy were cumulative. So for the second half of my chemotherapy, I smoked marijuana. Now none of my doctors and none of my nurses discouraged me from doing this, and they'd all had experience with patients of theirs who had done this and who had gotten good results. And I was being treated at NYU Hospital in New York, and I had a consultation at Memorial Sloane Kettering (ph), so I was not going to New Age faith healers for this advice. TILLOTSON: Let me ask you this, Richard. I think a lot of people who are undergoing chemo or have AIDS, even if it's legal in their state, as is the case in California, the law is kind of murky, and they're scared to go out and buy the stuff. BROOKHISER: Well, and rightly so. I think one of the sad, sad aspects of our situation is that I was not at much risk. I live in Manhattan. I'm a journalist. I'm a lower rung of the media, a leat (ph) if you will. I'm not the kind of person who gets in trouble, but people are in different lines of work or live in different places, they can indeed get in trouble, particularly if they have a chronic condition and try to get pot repeatedly. TILLOTSON: I'm going to get back to you on the question of the oral pill versus smoking the stuff. Betty, it was your personal experience that got you involved in fighting drugs, too, was it not? One of your kids you were worried about? BETTY SEMBLER, DRUG FREE AMERICA FOUNDATION INC.: Absolutely. TILLOTSON: Tell us about that. SEMBLER: Well, it's been more than 25 years ago since I've entered the field, and yes, it was through one of my sons who was smoking marijuana. Of course, at the time, marijuana had much lower THC content than it does today. Today, there's about ten times the amount of this hallucinogenic drug in marijuana. So today, it's a much different drug than it was 25 years ago. But what that alerted me to was the danger to our children. So I have worked for the past 25 years teaching children and promoting the true information not only about marijuana but of course about all hallucinogenic and mind-altering drugs. TILLOTSON: I would think any parent would have to share your worry, but the report that's out this morning says there's no particular evidence that marijuana is what they're calling a gateway drug to encourage kids to go onto something else. And to be blunt with, Betty, when you've got an emaciated AIDS patient or somebody undergoing chemotherapy, this is scarcely the poster person for the kind of cool that teenagers want, is it? SEMBLER: Well, I think that -- Of course, I haven't read the complete report since it's only just been put out, but I have been able to read the synopsis of it. The recommendations validate what our message has been all along, that is Drug Free America Foundation. We have always supported scientific research, peer reviewed research, and FDA approval, and this report absolutely does not validate the smoking approved marijuana as medicine. What it does say is that there is plenty of room for research, something that we have always said. TILLOTSON: No, it does not validate the prescription of marijuana but what it does say is that it does not think that would lead to the sort of increased recreational use which is one of the primary arguments, is it not - and I'm going to go to Dr. Mohrbacher on this one - against broadening the medicinal use of marijuana. The worry is will kids who aren't sick will somehow have broader access to it. DR. ANN MOHRBACHER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Well, what is unorthodox about this situation is that this is a drug that patients or families could grow at home in other cases of legalizing medications based and provided by pharmaceutical companies or government sponsored trials. And I think some concern is that everyone would start growing a plot of marijuana and that other persons other than the patient would have access to it, and would that allow proliferation of use of the drug. TILLOTSON: I want to get to how it actually works in California where there is a state law that made it legal. But can we stick for just a moment - and I'll start with Dr. Mohrbacher and then let Richard back in the conversation - the pros and cons of taking the oral pill form of the effective agents in marijuana that supposedly suppress nausea form chemo or AIDS? I keep hearing patients say it's not as effective as smoking dope. MOHRBACHER: Well, that's the anecdotal information coming from the patients who have had some experience with the recreational use of the drug. The oral drug does work in some capacities. It is a rather modest anti-nausea agent compared to current drugs that we have available today, and I was curious whether Richard had one of the newer generation drugs that have really only been public for the past... TILLOTSON: Let's hear from him. BROOKHISER: Yeah, the drug I had was, oh, gee, I'm blanking on the name, but it was brand new in 1992, Zophran (ph). MOHRBACHER: Gophran (ph), exactly. BROOKHISER: I got Zophran which... MOHRBACHER: And that wasn't completely effective for you? BROOKHISER: No, it wasn't. It was effective at first, but then its effectiveness wore off. And look, there may be some patients who get a benefit from Marinol. That's fine. MOHRBACHER: That's exactly true. BROOKHISER: That's fine. But then there are others who don't. And, you know, my doctors had years of research. My oncologist was the head of oncology at NYU Hospital. He'd seen lots of cancer patients, and a lot of them had gone the route of smoking marijuana to relieve their symptoms of nausea. Also, you know, I should say I wasn't a recreational smoker before, and I certainly never smoked recreationally after. You know, if you want to do aversion therapy for smoking marijuana, give everybody cancer, a course of chemotherapy, and give them some joints and they'll never look at one again. TILLOTSON: You gave us a lovely place to take a break, which we have to, unfortunately. We're going to be back, though, and talk about the intersection between politics and pot and whether it's really about medicine or about a political tug of war. Stay with us. Be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) TILLOTSON: We're talking about a report that was put out this morning by a branch of the American Academy of Science talking about the fact that there is medical evidence now that smoking marijuana can help relieve the nausea of some AIDS and chemotherapy patients, but prescribing what may take years of research to come up with a new delivery system. Dr. Mohrbacher, they say smoking, taking the smoke into your lungs is bad for you in and of itself, so let's figure out how to do this with an inhaler for the speed and effectiveness of smoking marijuana without the bad side effects. How long could that sort of research take? MOHRBACHER: Oh, many years. And the number of exposures to the smoke are probably not very relevant from the medical point of view except in patients who are taking drugs that have long toxicity. And paradoxically, many of the patients who have asked me about whether it's OK to smoke marijuana or that they've heard it might be better than what I can offer as prescription drugs were younger patients. And those very patients are the ones who have Hodgkin's disease and testicular cancer where a drug called Liomycin (ph) is used which has intrinsic long toxicity. So I generally discouraged the idea only for fear that the smoking would somehow be interactive with the long toxicity of their drugs and ask them if they were interested in that category of drug being effective in them if they would please give a try to the prescription form of the active ingredient instead. And in general, many patients have to try a series of drugs on a trial and error basis to find out what works for them. And Richard is correct in that although 90 percent of patients would find relief from the more mainstream drugs, there will be a few patients who seem to uniquely benefit from that category of drug, and we do have a prescription form available. But I think many physicians don't doubt that there may be other active ingredients in the natural form of the drug that probably should be researched, but may be available in the smoked form of the drug or at least in the natural form of the drug in some fashion. BROOKHISER: That's right. And, you know, one thing I noticed in my own experience, and this is borne out by the testimony of other people who have used the smoke form of the drug, is that it's easier to titrate your own dose. It's much easier to control how much you need versus taking a pill because a pill is longer acting. You actually end up taking smaller amounts of it if you're, you know, doing it yourself on a kind of half or quarter joint basis per every wave of nausea that you feel. And this gets to the political point of why it should be that the government should be dictating these health decisions to doctors and patients. And this is where I feel that I as a conservative am not making not exception to my principles but I'm just following out their consequences. We were the people who ranted and raved about Hillary Clinton's health care plan, you know, because it was going to tell doctors and patients what they had to do and on and on and on. So why should most conservatives be opposed to this, which unfortunately they are? I just want to say to them, you know, come on, wake up, follow out your true principles. TILLOTSON: I want to let Betty back in real quickly because I want to emphasize to everybody, Betty, that your concern is to reduce if possible or at least not expand recreational use of illegal drugs. But why do you fear that medicinal use, if it were properly controlled and users had some kind of identification on them, would it encourage kids to use drugs? SEMBLER: Well, I certainly do not oppose the medical use of marijuana. What I do oppose and what the report certainly does point out is that the smoking of crude marijuana is not medicine. We must understand that. The peer review and scientific research is what I most heartily endorse. And I think that that's what all of us must realize. Naturally, if you call something a medicine and a child takes it, they can grow it, they can buy it, there's no control on it, there's no dosage recommendation, no quality control. That's not medicine. What medicine is is scientifically tested. You don't test anecdotes. You test the science of it. Once it is tested and properly tested, then... BROOKHISER: But, but... TILLOTSON: Richard, hang on to that. You're going to be first when we come back. Got to take one more break but before we do, we're going to hear from Rhonda Schaffler with an update from the New York Stock Exchange. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) TILLOTSON: Welcome back. Before we went to that break, I interrupted both Richard Brookhiser and Betty Sembler. SEMBLER: Yes. TILLOTSON: I'm going to start with you, Betty. You seem to be making the point, no such thing as smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes? SEMBLER: Well, I certainly don't believe so, especially crude marijuana. We know from our research community that smoking of anything poses a grave risk to the user. And marijuana, crude marijuana contains over 400 different chemicals that the user is inhaling. TILLOTSON: Academic if the user is already dying of cancer, isn't it? MOHRBACHER: Not always. Some of the patients are using this in curable cancers such as testicular cancer and Hodgkin's disease. BROOKHISER: Yeah, but look, medicines, lots of medicines that are scientifically tested are very dangerous, and they can be overused. SEMBLER: Yeah, I certainly do agree with that, Richard. BROOKHISER: There is abuse of prescription medicines all the time, but that doesn't mean we yank them off the shelves and it doesn't mean we don't let doctors use them. And you always have to weigh the benefits against the risks. I also think... SEMBLER: But we also have to have scientific evidence. BROOKHISER: I also think it was a little disingenuous, it was disingenuous of the drug tsar to begin our segment by saying, "We need more research" as if this IOM report was the first research that has ever been done. It's only the first research that he signed off on. There have been studies of various aspects of medical use of marijuana going back over 20 years. This is not a new thing, this is not a brand new discovery. This is something that patients -- This is something that... TILLOTSON: And I want to let Dr. Mohrbacher in. You're nodding your head yes. You're agreeing with Richard on that, right? MOHRBACHER: Yes. There is a... BROOKHISER: This is something that patients and doctors have known for a long time, and we haven't made use of it because of an extreme fear of marijuana as a maligned, magical substance that must not be used under any circumstances. (CROSSTALK) TILLOTSON: Dr. Mohrbacher, for the sake of truth in advertising, I want to say that it's been a long time now, but I watched my mother struggle through cancer and chemotherapy, and at the time, they gave her something I think I'm recalling correctly called the Brompton (ph) cocktail or a combination of all kinds of stuff that the police would have me in the slammer for buying on the street, and that was all right. But marijuana's not? MOHRBACHER: Well, I think the politicization of the issue is resting on the fact that it is an illicit drug first not a drug that had a medical indication first as in cocaine or other opiates that we would certainly never deny a cancer patient and would not claim is being spread as a recreational drug to a society just because it's made available for medical use. The other issue is it certainly has medical benefits. Whether any of those are attributable to the actual smoked form of it or not is not yet known. On the other hand, when we say further research needs to be done, how long will that take? And if the patient has, for example... TILLOTSON: And is that politicizing the discussion? MOHRBACHER: I believe so, because I think that a terminally ill patient with either AIDS or cancer isn't the going to wait five years until a purified form of this is available. On the other hand, it's relatively few cancer patients who are asking me for this in the smokable form. In fact, most of them have such negative associations with that that they wouldn't try it if they were pressed to. Some of my colleagues in the HIV field say that they've had quite numerous anecdotal reports of the smoke form working better than the pill form that we routinely offer, and that they found that patients together often encourage each other to try it, and that women patients in particular were often reluctant to because of the illicit nature of it. But some who had never used a recreational drug in their life did find the drug gave them significant relief. TILLOTSON: I think a quick answer... MOHRBACHER: My feeling is ultimately that it will not be the smoked form of it that's going to be recommended for medicinal use, but I have no idea how long it will take to do the research and develop those drugs or whether there's even any financial interest in developing these drugs. Remember, the government isn't going to provide it long term... TILLOTSON: You got votes coming up... MOHRBACHER: Some patients, some patients can't wait. TILLOTSON: You've got votes coming up in four more states and I'm curious -- We're almost out of time, but I want to get an opinion from each of you since we got the report out today that in effect says, yes, there is some utility, though we don't like the delivery method of smoking the stuff. Do you think the report from the IOM, Richard -- and then I'm going to get Betty in and Dr. Mohrbacher in -- is going to increase the chances there will be more such state laws passed to allow the medicinal use of marijuana? BROOKHISER: Well, definitely. I think the people of America and the states have shown that they have a better sense of this issue than the politicians in Washington. They'll continue to do so. TILLOTSON: And Betty? SEMBLER: Well, I certainly don't think that we should vote by medicine, you know, these ballot initiatives. We've never voted on medicines in this country. We have a device called the FDA. TILLOTSON: I think we vote on what's bad though. I remember prohibition. Wasn't that one? SEMBLER: Well, that's of course a whole other program if you'd like to go into it. But the recommendations from the IOM do not recommend a long-term study. However, it does... TILLOTSON: I'm so sorry, we needed more time always. Betty, next time. Yes, we'll come back and discuss this and... SEMBLER: Yes, I'll be happy to come back. TILLOTSON: ... prohibition as well. Appreciate our guests coming in today. SEMBLER: Thank you. TILLOTSON: Dr. Ann Mohrbacher, Betty Sembler, Richard Brookhiser, good to have the three of you. Glad as always everybody else was with us, too. Hope to see you tomorrow. I'm Mary Tillotson. *** Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 15:10:15 -0800 To: restore@crrh.org From: "D. Paul Stanford" (stanford@crrh.org) From: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org) Subject: IOM Study: CNN & Company video available on web CRRH is proud to announce that the broadcast the CNN show, "CNN & Company" with Mary Tillotson on March 17, 1999 is now available for free viewing on demand by anyone with a 28K modem or faster at http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/news_cnnco3-99.html. The broadcast begins with a telephone interview with ONDCP Director, Gen Barry McCaffrey and some good video of medical marijuana scenes. Then ensues a very good and lively debate under the direction of host Mary Tillotson, who seems in favor of drug reform and recounts her experience with her mother when she died from cancer. Richard Brookhiser, Senior Editor of the conservative bastion, The National Review, and a former cancer patient who used cannabis medicinally, makes very strong points for medicinal cannabis. Dr. Ann Mohrbaher, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California and Betty Sembler of Drug Free America Foundation Inc. are the other guests. Once again, that URL is: http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/news_cnnco3-99.html Please notify me if there are other such broadcast. I will make try to record, encode and post all cannabis and drug policy reform related videos to the web for free via web video streaming. Please send related VHS videos to: CRRH P.O. Box 86741 Portland, OR 97286 The necessary and obligatory appeal for funds: If possible, please send a donation to this address too, or through our secure credit card donation site (https://banshee.ssl-servers.com/pantless/octa.htm) and linked from our site's volunteer form (http://www.crrh.org/volunteer/form.html). Thank you. Yours truly, D. Paul Stanford *** We are working to regulate and tax adult marijuana sales, allow doctors to prescribe cannabis and allow the unregulated production of industrial hemp! *** Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp CRRH P.O. Box 86741 Portland, OR 97286 Phone: (503) 235-4606 Fax:(503) 235-0120 Web: http://www.crrh.org/ *** To subscribe, unsubscribe or switch to immediate or digest mode, please send your instructions to restore-owner@crrh.org.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Institute of Medicine Issues Report Strongly Supporting Medical Use of Marijuana (Cable News Network medical correspondent Eileen O'Connor comments on the impact of the Institute of Medicine report, noting patient advocates are angered, saying "the calls for more research are basically just calls for more stalling. And they are pointing to the research that the IOM has done, saying that it itself admits that for some patients there is no alternative.") Newshawk: rlake@mapinc.org Source: CNN Newsday Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Feedback: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/ Forum: http://www.cnn.com/discussion/ Website: http://www.cnn.com/ INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE ISSUES REPORT STRONGLY SUPPORTING MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA Aired March 17, 1999 - 12:03 a.m. ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: An advisory panel to the federal government today issued a report strongly supporting the medical use of marijuana. The Institute of Medicine said the chemicals in marijuana can not provide a cure, but are useful in relieving symptoms in patients for whom other drugs are not effective. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN BENSON, OREGON HEALTH SCIENCE UNIV.: For these patients, we found cannabinoids appear to hold potential for treating pain, chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting, and the poor appetite and wasting caused by AIDS or advanced cancer. (END VIDEO CLIP) MESERVE: The institute said marijuana is not especially addictive and found no evidence that its use leads to harder drugs. But it did note that marijuana can cause respiratory disease and recommended development of a standardized form of the drug that could be administered in other ways. Joining us now to discuss these findings and the possible impact medical correspondent Eileen O'Connor. Hi, Eileen. EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jeanne. Well, this is a very significant study because the Institute of Medicine carries a lot of weight. It is independent and very well respected. Because it did say that marijuana does have therapeutic benefits in terms of pain relief, as well as control of nausea and the stimulation of the appetite. This is a significant report. But it also does recommend clinical trials to help develop a pill or inhalant substitute. It does admit, though, that until a non-smoked rapid-onset cannabinoid drug is available, for some patients, there is no clear alternative. MESERVE: What is the administration going to do with this report? A very ticklish subject here. O'CONNOR: It is very ticklish. There are some states who have moved to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. But the administration is pointing to the findings that more research is needed, and what they are saying is that they do not think that this is a sign that they should go ahead and legalize marijuana. They're saying we're - where we're at is very comfortable. And they say the future is in research on cannabinoid drugs, an inhalant or a pill. But that is not satisfying patients. MESERVE: What about advocates for legalization? What are they saying about the report? O'CONNOR: Well, of course, they are angered, and they are saying the calls for more research are basically just calls for more stalling. And they are pointing to the research that the IOM has done, saying that it itself admits that for some patients there is no alternative. They also say that kids won't get a mixed message if this is treated like any other medicinal drug, say example like morphine. If parents tell their children this is only to be used as a controlled substance administered by a doctor -- Jeanne. MESERVE: Eileen O'Connor, medical correspondent, thanks for joining us.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Statement by General Twaddle (A list subscriber forwards the official statement made by General Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, about the report he commissioned on medical marijuana, to be released today by the Institute of Medicine.) From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod) To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com Subject: Statement by General Twaddle (fwd) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 09:18:39 -0800 Lines: 92 -------- Forwarded message -------- Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 11:32:26 -0500 From: "Conlon, Kelly - NRC" (conlonk@aecl.ca) (Washington, D.C.) -- The White House Office of National Drug Policy (ONDCP) issued the following statement today following the release of the Institute of Medicine's report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base: We are delighted that science is the basis of the discussion of this issue, as it must be. In January 1997, ONDCP asked the Institute of Medicine to conduct a review of the scientific evidence for assessing the potential health benefits and risks of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids. ONDCP believed that an objective and independent evaluation of research regarding the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes was appropriate given the ongoing debate about cannabis and its health effects. The report released today by the Institute of Medicine represents the most thorough analysis to date of the relevant scientific literature. It summarizes recent advances in molecular and behavioral neuroscience, in particular newly elaborated systems of transmitters, receptors, and antagonists -- all illuminating the physiological effects of cannabinoids. The Institute of Medicine has addressed all issues that ONDCP requested be examined, including: the science base and gaps in scientific knowledge regarding use of marijuana for medicinal purposes; scientific information about marijuana's mechanism of action; peer-reviewed literature on the uses of marijuana; and costs associated with various forms of the component chemical compounds in marijuana and other pharmacotherapies for special medical conditions. We thank the principal investigators, members of the advisory panel, biomedical and social scientists, patients, advocates, report reviewers, and all who supported the Institute of Medicine in developing this comprehensive report. The report contains six specific recommendations that address: 1. Continued research into the physiological effects of cannabinoids. 2. Clinical trials of cannabinoid drugs for symptom management. 3. Evaluation of psychological effects of cannabinoids in clinical trials. 4. Studies of individual health risks in smoking marijuana. 5. Clinical trials of marijuana use under limited circumstances for medical purposes. 6. Short-term use of smoked marijuana under strict conditions for patients with debilitating symptoms. These recommendations are supported by the following observations: * Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoids for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation. This value would be enhanced by a rapid onset of drug effect. * The psychological effects of cannabinoids are probably important determinants of their potential therapeutic value. They can influence symptoms indirectly, which could create false impressions of the drug effect or be beneficial as a form of adjunctive therapy. * Numerous studies suggest that marijuana smoke is an important risk factor in the development of respiratory diseases, but the data that could conclusively establish or refute this suspected link have not been collected. * Because marijuana is a crude THC delivery system that also delivers harmful substances, smoked marijuana generally should not be recommended for medical use. Nonetheless, marijuana is widely used by certain patient groups, which raises both safety and efficacy issues. * If there is any future for marijuana as medicine, it lies in its isolated components -- the cannabinoids and their synthetic derivatives. Isolated cannabinoids will provide more reliable effects than crude plant mixtures. Therefore, the purpose of clinical trials of smoked marijuana would not be to develop marijuana as a licensed drug, but such trials could be a first step towards the development of rapid-onset, nonsmoked cannabinoid delivery systems. The Office of National Drug Control Policy appreciates the contributions made by the Institute of Medicine to the debate on the medical efficacy and safety of cannabinoids. We will carefully study the recommendations and conclusions contained in this report. We will continue to rely on the professional judgement of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and the Surgeon General on all issues related to the medical value of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids. We note in the report's conclusion that "the future of cannabinoid drugs lies not in smoked marijuana, but in chemically-defined drugs that act on the cannabinoid systems that are a natural component of human physiology." We look forward to the considered responses from our nation's public health officials to the interim solutions recommended by the report.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Medical Marijuana Smoking To Remain Illegal (Reuters notes the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, said Wednesday in response to the IOM report that marijuana would remain on the government's list of illegal drugs despite a report saying smoking it could be beneficial to certain patients.) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 03:59:34 -0800 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US CA: Wire: Medical Marijuana Smoking To Remain Illegal Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: General Pulaski Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. Author: Michael Miller MEDICAL MARIJUANA SMOKING TO REMAIN ILLEGAL LOS ANGELES, - White House anti-drug czar Barry McCaffrey said on Wednesday that marijuana would remain on the government's list of illegal drugs despite a report saying smoking it could be beneficial to certain patients. The report on the medical uses of marijuana by the independent Institute of Medicine (IOM) said smoking marijuana should not generally be recommended for long-term medical use. But it added, "Nonetheless, for certain patients such as the terminally ill or those with debilitating symptoms, the long-term risks are not of great concern." The report was commissioned the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which McCaffrey heads, but speaking at a news conference in Los Angeles, where he was meeting with local youth leaders, he was adamant that the federal government would not relax its policy on the drug, even for medical reasons. "Smokable marijuana is not the answer," McCaffrey said, adding the federal government would continue to arrest those smoking marijuana for medical reasons, including people in the seven states where voter initiatives have made its medical use legal. But he welcomed the report, which he said took the discussion over the medical use of marijuana away from politicians and put it "firmly in the context of science, where it belongs." McCaffrey said while cannabinoids held no promise of cure, they could be useful in pain management, which he said was a much neglected field in modern medicine. "Everyone is looking for a cure these days and pain is seen as a sort of blurry background. There needs to be more pain management," he said. McCaffrey said the government would continue to support bona fide research into medical uses for marijuana, and he called for more research into delivering THC, one of the medically beneficial ingredients of marijuana that has been isolated by scientists. "In particular, I would support deep-lung delivery vehicles such as aerosols," he said. He also supported controlled delivery by patches similar to those used to deliver nicotine. On a cautionary note, McCaffrey highlighted the report's finding that developing pain killing drugs from marijuana could cost between $200 million and $300 million and said he did not think there was "any commercial interest in the (pharmaceutical) market for the development of such drugs."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Health - Support for medicinal use of cannabis (The BBC summarizes the report on medical marijuana released today by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.) From: "ralph sherrow" (ralphkat@hotmail.com) To: ralphkat@hotmail.com Subject: Fwd: BBC News/Med. Marihuana Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 12:00:35 PST From: "Scott D." (rumba2@earthlink.net) To: ralph sherrow (ralphkat@hotmail.com) Subject: BBC News/Med. Marihuana Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 10:49:10 -0800 http://news.bbc.co.uk:80/hi/english/health/newsid_298000/298485.stm Wednesday, March 17, 1999 Published at 18:02 GMT Health Support for medicinal use of cannabis The US report pushes forward the argument for the medical use of cannabis. The medicinal use of cannabis has been backed by a US government-commissioned report. It says that for some seriously ill people, the benefits outweigh its disadvantages. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, states that marijuana is not particularly addictive and that there is no conclusive evidence that it leads to the use of hard drugs like heroin. The report comes on the back of a similar study in the UK by the House of Lords, which supported the medicinal use of cannabis. Two UK trials were launched in January for patients with multiple sclerosis and post-operative pain. The US report looked at patient experience as well as scientific evidence. Its authors expressed concern about the risks related to smoking cannabis. But it said: "Nonetheless, for certain patients such as the terminally ill or those with debilitating symptoms, the long-term risks are not of great concern." Multiple sclerosis Campaigners for the legalisation of cannabis say the drug can relieve the aches and pains associated with conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Aids. It can also help relieve symptoms of anxiety, lack of appetite and nausea. The report calls for more research into the development of safer ways of delivering cannabinoid drugs - the active ingredient of marijuana - which act as quickly as cigarettes. In their response to the House of Lords, British doctors also stressed the need for the development of non-smokeable cannabinoid drugs. However, the US report recognises that many chronically ill patients may not want to wait for the outcome of research. "We acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana such as pain or Aids wasting," it stated. Its authors called for these patients to be allowed to be involved in clinical studies of marijuana's medicinal effects, with the risks and rewards of smoking the drug being carefully explained to them. Heated debate The issue of medicinal use of cannabis has provoked a heated debate in the US. Last autumn, the House of Congress voted by 310 to 93 not to legalise marijuana for medicinal use. The IOM report was commissioned in 1997 by Barry McCaffrey, President Clinton's anti-drugs czar, who is opposed to relaxing laws on legalising cannabis. He had hoped it would give a scientific basis to the discussion over medicinal use. Several US states have recently legalised cannabis for severely ill patients. The first was California in 1996, but its decision was blocked by the federal government. However, last year, six other states voted for similar measures, increasing pressure on the federal government to move cannabis from the dangerous drug list. Mr McCaffrey's office said it would study the report carefully. "We look forward to the considered responses from our nation's public health officials to the interim solutions recommended by the report." But campaigners for the legalisation of cannabis said the report backed their stance. Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights, said: "They are in effect saying that most of what the government has told us about marijuana is false....it's not addictive, it's not a gateway to heroin and cocaine, it has legitimate medical use, and it's not as dangerous as common drugs like Prozac and Viagra."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Senators Pledge 1,000 More Agents For Border Patrol (The Orange County Register says several Senate Republicans pledged Tuesday to overrule the Clinton administration and add 1,000 new Border Patrol agents next year.) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 18:54:56 -0800 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US CA: Senators Pledge 1,000 More Agents For Border Patrol Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: John W. Black Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Section: News Page: 9 Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Contact: letters@link.freedom.com Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ SENATORS PLEDGE 1,000 MORE AGENTS FOR BORDER PATROL Several Senate Republicans pledged Tuesday to overrule the Clinton administration and add 1,000 new Border Patrol agents next year. In a hearing to question INS Commissioner Doris Meissner, they accused the White House of raiding immigration enforcement accounts to fund other priorities. "Every indication is that we will put them back in" the budget, said Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who has been a sharp critic of the Clinton administration's decision not to seek the 1,000 agents, as Congress ordered. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who is chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department and its agencies, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service, questioned whether the $600 million sought by the administration to expand its politically popular cops-on-the-streets program was coming at the expense of the Border Patrol. Gregg is "flat-out wrong," said White House spokesman Barry Toiv. "We found reductions elsewhere in the budget to finance the president's initiative to put additional police on the streets of our communities."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Alcohol and driving (The ADCA News of the Day, from the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, says a survey released yesterday by Curtin University's National Centre for Research into the Prevention of Drug Abuse suggested cannabis use by drivers is a relatively minor safety hazard compared to alcohol use.) Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 06:54:23 +0930 To: "Pot News from hemp SA" (pot-news@beetroot.va.com.au) From: "Cyber Andy :^)" (duffy@newave.net.au) Subject: [pot-news] NEWS - Alcohol and driving *** Pot News - Hemp SA's On-line News Service *** From: McCormack (petermcc@adca.org.au) To: "'ADCA News of the Day'" (update@adca.org.au) Subject: UPDATE - NEWS - Alcohol and driving Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 10:45:54 +1100 WEST AUSTRALIAN 17 March 1999 p38 DAILY TELEGRAPH 17 March 1999 p20 Results of a survey by Curtin University's National Centre for Research into the Prevention of Drug Abuse released yesterday show cannabis use is a relatively minor road safety issue. Alcohol consumption has a bigger effect on driving ability than cannabis. More than two-thjirds of respondents said that they had used alcohol in the past year and of those, 22 per cent admitted to driving after having had two or more drinks within the hour. However, only 18 per cent admitted to having used cannabis in the past year and of those, only 6 per cent to having driven while affected by it. Researcher Professor Tim Stockwell said it was clear that alcohol should remain the number one drug of concern in regard to road safety. "Some 500 people die each year in Australia as a result of alcohol-caused road crashes" he said. The study, commissioned by the Traffic Board of WA in 1997, also found that most people had a poor knowledge of laws regarding drug use and driving. Only 10 per cent of people could identify correctly the maximum penalty for driving under the influence of alcohol. *** HEMP SA Inc - Help End Marijuana Prohibition South Australia PO Box 1019 Kent Town South Australia 5071 Email: mailto:hempSA@va.com.au Website: (http://www.hemp.on.net.au) Check out our on-line news service - Pot News! To subscribe to Pot News send mailto:subscribe-pot-news@lists.va.com.au To unsubscribe to Pot News send mailto:unsubscribe-pot-news@lists.va.com.au *** You are currently subscribed to pot-news as: [troy@grin.net] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-pot-news-309S@lists.va.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------
[End]
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