-------------------------------------------------------------------

The Medical Dope - Independent Panel Says Marijuana Can Help Patients (The
version in New York's Newsday)

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 12:22:30 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: The Medical Dope/Independent Panel Says
Marijuana Can Help Patients
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Thur, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 1999, Newsday Inc.
Contact: letters@newsday.com
Fax: (516)843-2986
Website: http://www.newsday.com/

THE MEDICAL DOPE/INDEPENDENT PANEL SAYS MARIJUANA CAN HELP PATIENTS

Marijuana can help treat a variety of medical conditions, including the
pain, nausea and anxiety linked to AIDS and cancer, an independent panel of
experts told the federal government yesterday.

The report by the Washington-based Institute of Medicine, an arm of the
National Academy of Sciences, said there is strong scientific evidence that
the chemicals in marijuana can help people cope with the side effects of
chemotherapy for cancer, and the wasting caused by AIDS. It also stressed
that the panel found no clear evidence that use of marijuana leads to other
drug use.

However, the panel said smoking marijuana can cause respiratory problems and
called for development of standardized forms of the drugs, called
cannabinoids, that can be taken by inhaler or other methods. And it
suggested that institutional review boards be formed to oversee the drug's
use until more study is completed.

Dr. John Benson, a co-principal investigator of the study and a professor of
medicine at the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine, said
the panel did not "recommend it for long-term use. But for patients who do
not respond well to other medications, short-term marijuana use appears to
be suitable in treating" certain conditions.

The report was requested by the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy. It is expected to prompt new debate on an issue which has drawn
increasing interest over the past few years.

Robert Randall, a glaucoma patient who is one of eight people being supplied
federally grown marijuana for his condition, said the institute's
conclusions were long-awaited.

"Reefer madness in America died today," said Randall, who lives in Florida
and has been arrested for growing marijuana to be used to ward off his
illness. "The IOM has confronted the fact that marijuana can make a profound
difference in the outcome of patient's care.

"I have watched others go blind, or cancer and AIDS patients starve to death
because they had no access to marijuana. You don't need a guy in a white
coat to tell you that it works. Ask any cancer patient who gets immediate
relief from nausea when nothing else seems to work."

But while ballot measures have approved its use as medicine in eight states
since 1996, U.S. Justice Department officials have said it remains illegal
under federal law.

The White House office, headed by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, said in a
statement that it would carefully study the report's recommendations. But it
stressed, "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.

A Justice Department spokesman said it, too, would review the report
extensively. But Brian Steel said his department "remains committed to
upholding and enforcing the laws that have been passed by the United States
Congress. The U.S. Congress in the Controlled Substances Act has made the
distribution, manufacture or possession of marijuana illegal."

The House voted 310 to 93 last year to condemn marijuana as a "dangerous and
addictive drug" that should not be legalized for medicinal use.

Yesterday, Benson said "doctors are afraid to put their name on a piece of
paper recommending" use of marijauana for fear of losing their license to
prescribe medicine.

In addition to its effects as an anti-nausea drug, the panel also found
evidence that it helped in controlling some of the movement problems in
multiple sclerosis, and called for further study in this area.

No one knows how many patients have smoked marijuana to relieve symptoms.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has been growing marijuana for decades
and makes it available on a limited basis to scientists, and to eight
patients - including Randall - who receive it through a restricted federal
program that was dismantled in 1991. Patients in the program prior to that
date can continue to get the drug.

Dr. Herbert Kleber, a former director of the National Institute on Drug
Abuse who now runs the division on substance abuse at Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons in Manhattan, stressed that the medical
use of marijuana "is an issue that should be decided by science and not by
opinion polls. It should be evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration
just like any other drug."

However, Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), who led the fight to get the House to
condemn medical marijuana last fall, said he is "deeply concerned" the
report might encourage people to smoke marijuana who do not need it for a
medical condition.

It's known that some of the chemicals in marijuana can be useful, he
acknowledged, but their place is in inhalers or pill form. "We should not
sanction smoked marijuana because there is no way to control that," McCollum
said.

Currently, there is one federally approved cannabinoid, Marinol, developed
by Roxane Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio. This oral substance, available
only by prescription since 1985, doesn't provide the fast relief that the
smoked form does. It is classified, like morphine, as a controlled
substance.

Kleber, who was a reviewer for the report, said that much of the scientific
evidence presented to the panel was anecdotal, but "suggestive enough that
more research is warranted." He believes that patients should try existing
medicines before they turn to alternative substances like marijuana.

Marijuana's treatment uses have only come to light in the last decade as
researchers found receptors in the brain and chemicals that act on the
receptors that resemble the main ingredients of marijuana. In the last few
years, two cannabinoid genes have been cloned, one found primarily in the
brain and the other expressed in the immune system.

Drug companies are working on medicines that manipulate the marijuana
receptor sites in the brain, said Dr. Miles Herkenham, a neuroscientist at
the National Institute of Mental Health who mapped the entire cannabinoid
receptor system. The receptors are also present throughout the body's pain
pathway, he said, which could explain why it is such a powerful analgesic.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Federal judge lets lawsuit on medical marijuana go on (The Morning Call, in
Allentown, Pennsylvania, says U.S. District Senior Judge Marvin Katz ruled on
March 10 in Philadelphia that a class-action lawsuit challenging the federal
government's refusal to legalize marijuana for medicine can move ahead. Katz
concluded that the plaintiffs have a right to delve more deeply into the
fairness of a federal program that gives marijuana to some ill people but not
others. However, Katz dismissed other legal claims in the lawsuit, including
those challenging the constitutionality of the federal Controlled Substances
Act. The judge put the case in his June 21 trial pool, meaning it could go to
trial then. Lawrence Hirsch of Philadelphia, the lawyer representing the
plaintiffs, predicted the trial would last all summer.)

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 17:22:03 -0600
From: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
Reply-To: compassion23@geocities.com
Organization: Rx Cannabis Now!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/
To: DRCNet Medical Marijuana Forum (medmj@drcnet.org)
Subject: US MMJ: Federal judge lets lawsuit on medical marijuana go on
Sender: owner-medmj@drcnet.org
Source: The Morning Call (PA)
Contact: letters@mcall.com
Website: http://www.mcall.com:80/
Pubdate: 18 March 1999

FEDERAL JUDGE LETS LAWSUIT ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA GO ON

An Easton man whose wife smoked the drug before she died from AIDS, is a
plaintiff in the case.

03/18/99

By ELLIOT GROSSMAN Of The Morning Call

A class-action lawsuit challenging the federal government's refusal to
legalize marijuana for medicine can move ahead, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Senior Judge Marvin Katz concluded that the plaintiffs have a
right to delve more deeply into the fairness of a federal program that gives
marijuana to some ill people but not others.

More than 160 people -- many with serious illnesses -- are suing the federal
government, claiming that marijuana should be legalized for all people who
want to use it as medicine. Al Smith of Easton, whose wife, Denise, smoked
marijuana before she died from AIDS, is one of the plaintiffs.

People have a right to use marijuana, partly because they have a right to
privacy -- the right to use a therapeutic herb without government
interference, according to the suit.

The suit refers to a federal program in which government-grown marijuana is
provided to patients. The program stopped taking new patients in 1992, and
only eight people receive marijuana.

In his 23-page ruling, Katz said the plaintiffs have a right to explore in
court whether it is rational for the government to allow marijuana for only
some sick people.

But he dismissed other legal claims in the lawsuit, including those
challenging the constitutionality of the federal Controlled Substances Act.
The act makes it a crime to use, possess or distribute marijuana.

In the March 10 ruling, Katz of Philadelphia said passage of the act was a
valid exercise of congressional power.

''The Third Circuit [U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia], along with many
other courts, has recognized the interstate nature of the market in illegal
drugs and has held that Congress may regulate that market in the same way it
may regulate foods and drugs that are legal,'' Katz wrote.

He added, ''The ongoing dispute regarding the safety and usefulness of
marijuana, both as a medical aid and otherwise, supports the rationality of
the act.''

In dismissing those claims, Katz said he did not want to minimize anyone's
suffering or whether their conditions were worsened by the threat of
criminal sanctions.

''The difficulty is, however, that even while acknowledging the sympathy
that all must feel for people afflicted with painful, debilitating physical
ailments that cannot be remedied, the court cannot take the place of
Congress,'' he wrote. ''Where reasonable people may differ, the court is
bound to defer to the will of the legislature.''

Katz put the case in his June 21 trial pool, meaning it could go to trial
then.

Lawyer Lawrence Hirsch of Philadelphia, representing the plaintiffs,
predicted the trial would last all summer.

''We have 165 people that want to testify,'' Hirsch said, referring to the
plaintiffs. He also said he has 10 physicians who are willing to testify.

Hirsch praised the ruling, even though some of his claims were dismissed.

''His opinion is imbued not only with a judicial understanding but also
evidences compassion and sensitivity for the people who are sick and
disabled,'' he said.

Hirsch predicted the plaintiffs would win by showing it is unfair for the
government to give mari juana to only eight sick people.

''We may end up with a federal government that is providing marijuana not
only for eight people but for 8 million people free of charge,'' he said.

The suit alleges that 97 million Americans could benefit from using
marijuana therapeutically. Plaintiffs include those who use marijuana to
reduce the side effects of cancer chemotherapy, a quadriplegic who says it
reduces pain in his legs, and a woman who says it relieves her symptoms from
menstruation.

The right to use marijuana -- a plant that grows wild -- is more basic than
the right to vote, according to the suit.

''There cannot be any greater injustice than the use of police force and
state violence against the person and property of the sick, dying and
disabled who seek to preserve their lives through the use of a plant,'' the
suit states.

Marijuana is the safest therapeutic substance known, according to the suit.

But the National Drug Control Policy Office, a White House agency, said no
scientific study has ever proved that marijuana is effective as medicine. In
addition, preliminary studies show that marijuana can cause damage to the
brain, heart, lungs and immune system, according to that office.

Last November, voters in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington
state passed referendums legalizing marijuana for medicinal uses. Two years
earlier, California voters passed a similar referendum.

Barry McCaffrey, who heads the National Drug Control Policy Office, said in
his view the referendums do not affect the status of marijuana under federal
law -- it is a crime to buy, sell or use marijuana.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical Study A Score For Marijuana (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette version of
yesterday's report from the Institute of Medicine)

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 22:34:02 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US PA: MMJ: Medical Study A Score For Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org)
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
Copyright: 1999 PG Publishing.
Contact: letters@post-gazette.com
Website: http://www.post-gazette.com/
Author: Judy Packer-Tursman, Post-Gazette Washington Bureau
See: Scott Ehlers of the Drug Policy Foundation quote below. The
Foundation's website is at:
http://www.dpf.org/

MEDICAL STUDY A SCORE FOR MARIJUANA

A Federal Study Concludes That Marijuana's Active Ingredients Have
Potential Value In Treating Americans With Cancer And AIDS

WASHINGTON - Marijuana is often less helpful for relieving symptoms of
debilitating illnesses than drugs already on the market, but its
active ingredients do have potential value as medicine to treat
thousands of Americans with cancer and AIDS who are suffering from
pain, uncontrolled nausea and vomiting or loss of appetite.

That's the conclusion of an advisory panel from the National Academy
of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, which the White House commissioned
two years ago to review the scientific benefits and risks of medical
marijuana.

In releasing the panel's lengthy report yesterday, John A. Benson Jr.,
dean and professor of medicine emeritus at Oregon Health Sciences
University School of Medicine in Portland, Ore., who helped lead the
review, said: "Some have dismissed medical marijuana as a hoax, ...
[while] others claim it is a uniquely soothing medicine that has been
withheld from patients through regulations based on false claims."

He said both sides have claimed scientific evidence to support their
views, but often the evidence simply isn't there.

Federal officials said "at least $600,000" of the National Institutes
of Health's $9 billion budget for grants this year was going toward
medical marijuana research.

They noted that getting NIH funding is a highly competitive
process.

Benson urged the federal government to support more research into the
therapeutic value of marijuana, noting, for example, that the panel
found no compelling evidence that marijuana should be used to treat
glaucoma, migraines or movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease
- but mainly because appropriate studies have not yet been conducted,
not because data conclusively show that marijuana fails to work.

Although Benson and co-principal investigator Stanley J. Watson Jr., a
research scientist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, told
the news conference that their job was to look at the science and not
delve into policy issues, they said the panel didn't find that smoking
marijuana causes people to use "harder" illicit drugs, such as cocaine
and heroin.

Nor did it conclude that approving marijuana's medical use would
increase its use among the general population.

After spending 1 1/2 years looking into the matter with the assistance
of more than 35 leading scientists in the field, Benson said the
institute's findings "reflect the promise" of new scientific research
into medical marijuana.

But he repeatedly cautioned that marijuana's potential as a medicine
is limited by the harmful effects of smoking the drug.

He said that until researchers find other effective ways for
marijuana's rapid delivery, such as inhalers, the panel recommends
that only terminally ill patients or people with debilitating symptoms
that don't respond to approved medications use marijuana, and then
perhaps only for as long as six months.

He added that patients for whom marijuana is prescribed should be
enrolled in closely supervised clinical trials.

White House drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey commissioned the $896,000
study after voters in Arizona and California approved ballot
initiatives supporting medical marijuana.

He stated at the time that there was "not a shred of scientific
evidence that shows smoked marijuana is useful or needed."

Voters in Alaska, Nevada, Oregon and Washington has since followed
Arizona and California's lead.

Yesterday, McCaffrey downplayed the IOM study, saying it "shows there
is little future in smoked marijuana" as an approved medication.

He said the Clinton administration would continue to rely on the
judgments of top federal health officials on all issues related to
marijuana's medical value.

But spokesman Scott Ehlers of the Drug Policy Foundation - whose board
chairman is Ira Glasser of the American Civil Liberties Union and
whose executive committee includes former Surgeon General M. Joycelyn
Elders - said the IOM study "bolsters our argument that marijuana is
useful for a variety of ailments. It backs up what patients have
been saying all along - that marijuana is useful and it helps them."

Ehlers said the institute came out with a similar report on
marijuana's therapeutic value in 1982, "and that report was ignored.
The government is not looking into marijuana's use as a medicine, and
they're actively rejecting studies."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical Marijuana Is Endorsed By Researchers In A Federal Report (The
Philadelphia Inquirer version)

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 07:02:36 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US PA: Medical Marijuana Is Endorsed By Researchers In A
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 1999 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: Inquirer.Opinion@phillynews.com
Website: http://www.phillynews.com/
Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author: Usha Lee McFarling, Inquirer Washington Bureau

MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS ENDORSED BY RESEARCHERS IN A FEDERAL REPORT

WASHINGTON - Entering the fractious debate over medical marijuana,
the Institute of Medicine recommended yesterday that marijuana
cigarettes be made available for short periods to help cancer and AIDS
patients who can find no other relief for their severe pain and nausea.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services almost
immediately responded by saying they would not dispense marijuana to
individual patients until more clinical research showed it was safe.

Still, the report was seen as a victory by many who advocate the use
of marijuana as medicine. The response from drug-fighting groups was
subdued.

An explosion of recent scientific work, as well as patient anecdotes,
shows that compounds in marijuana have the potential to ease some of
medicine's most intractable problems, the Institute of Medicine report
said. The institute is an independent research organization chartered
by the National Academy of Sciences and conducts studies of issues
related to health and science.

But the authors of the report warned that smoking marijuana carried
its own health hazards -- including lung damage and low-birth-weight
babies -- and should be used only as a last resort after standard
therapies had failed. Addiction was seen as a relatively minor problem
likely to affect only a few users.

To avoid the smoke, the authors called for new delivery systems, such
as inhalers, and for the development of pharmaceutical drugs made from
or modeled after the active ingredients in marijuana, chemicals known
as cannabinoids.

"Marijuana's future as a medicine does not involve smoking," said
Stanley Watson, a neuroscientist and substance-abuse expert from the
University of Michigan who cowrote the report. "It involves exploiting
the potential in cannabinoids."

The endorsement pleased groups that have been working to make
marijuana available to patients. Many were expecting a call for
further research. "It's a discreet but clear call to make marijuana
available," said Ethan A. Nadelman, who directs the Lindesmith Center,
a New York-based drug-policy think tank.

Other advocates, including the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws and Harvard Medical School professor Lester Grinspoon,
were more critical, calling the report "tepid" and "political." They
said it ignored the fact that many patients had successfully used
marijuana as medicine for years with few harmful effects.

Battles over medical marijuana have raged across the nation since
1996, when California passed a ballot initiative that removed any
state penalties for people who used marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Since then, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and Washington state have
passed laws permitting the use of medical marijuana.

Many mainstream medical organizations, and the relatively conservative
New England Journal of Medicine, have endorsed the use of medical marijuana.

But last fall Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning
medical use of marijuana, and because federal law still outlaws
marijuana use, many physicians are reluctant to prescribe it, even in
states that have passed initiatives. 'Nothing's happened'

"There are so many strictures on doctors, so much uncertainty on the
part of licensing boards . . . that nothing's happened," said Dr. John
A. Benson Jr., a former dean of the Oregon Health Sciences University
School of Medicine and the report's other coauthor.

In Philadelphia, Lawrence Elliott Hirsch, a lawyer who has filed a
class-action suit against the federal government over its
medical-marijuana policy, called the new recommendations "too little,
too late." He said doctors should immediately be able to prescribe
marijuana to alleviate the pain and suffering of patients.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia last summer,
names 165 plaintiffs around the country who say that marijuana has
provided the only relief they have found from a wide array of
ailments, ranging from the nausea associated with the new AIDS drugs
to the muscle spasms that often accompany multiple sclerosis.

The plaintiffs charge that the government has violated their right to
equal protection under the law by refusing to let them take part in a
federal program set up in 1978 to provide marijuana to some critically
ill patients on a "compassionate use" basis. The government shut the
program to new patients in 1992. A June trial expected

Last week, U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz refused to dismiss the
suit, saying that it raised an important constitutional issue. The
case is expected to go to trial June 21.

Only eight patients in the United States have federal government
permission to smoke marijuana for their conditions under the
"compassionate use" program. Yesterday, Dr. Randy Wykoff, associate
commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said individual
patients were not likely to receive marijuana until it was proven
"safe and effective."

Marijuana advocates predicted that change was more likely to come with
state-by-state ballot initiatives.

Patients such as Jim Harden, 48, a Vietnam veteran from Virginia who
uses a wheelchair and who smokes marijuana illegally to ease the pain
of cancer, liver disease and a back injury, said he lived in fear of a
jail sentence. "Every day, I live in fear of the police coming,
arresting me, and taking my kids away," he said, speaking at a news
conference organized by the Marijuana Policy Project, which praised
the report.

The federal government's most visible opponent of medical marijuana
has been the White House antidrug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey. In
campaigning against state marijuana initiatives, he said that there
was no proof marijuana had medical benefits, that marijuana was a
gateway drug that led to abuse of drugs such as heroin, and that
allowing marijuana to be used as medicine would increase illicit
recreational use of marijuana.

McCaffrey, who heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
commissioned the institute's $900,000 report in response to calls that
federal drug policy on medical marijuana be changed.

The study attacks some of McCaffrey's arguments. Its authors found no
evidence that marijuana use caused people to progress to harder drugs
or that medical use brought increases in recreational use.

In a statement, McCaffrey said he would study the report's
conclusions. He emphasized that there was some evidence that marijuana
was addictive and could lead to further drug use. He left it to the
nation's health agencies to judge whether more patients should be
provided with marijuana cigarettes.

Other antidrug groups seemed to signal a softening in their strong
public stance against medical marijuana. "We support all the
recommendations," said Steve Dnistrian, an executive vice president of
the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the nonprofit organization
that creates antidrug public-service announcements. "Who are we to
contradict what the doctors and scientists say?"

The report concluded that marijuana compounds held the most potential
against pain and nausea caused by AIDS, chemotherapy and nerve damage,
and would likely benefit only those who did not respond to standard
drugs, which work in a majority of patients. The report said side
effects such as euphoria could enhance patient well-being. The report
found little proof that marijuana would help with migraines, epilepsy,
glaucoma or Parkinson's and Huntington's disease.

Inquirer staff writer Huntly Collins contributed to this article.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

A Summary Of Findings On The Effects Of Medical Marijuana (A Philadelphia
Inquirer sidebar summarizes key points in the Institute of Medicine report
issued yesterday.)

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 11:13:43 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US PA: A Summary Of Findings On The Effects Of Medical Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 1999 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: Inquirer.Opinion@phillynews.com
Website: http://www.phillynews.com/
Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author: Usha Lee McFarling

A SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ON THE EFFECTS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON -- Research indicates that the active ingredients of marijuana
can be helpful in treating an array of medical conditions. Here is a summary
of findings from recent studies of the medical use of marijuana:

Pain relief.

Three studies on cancer pain have shown that THC, an active component of
marijuana, is as effective as codeine in reducing pain. The studies also
showed that THC curbed nausea and enhanced feelings of well-being. Marijuana
compounds are most likely to help with problems of chronic pain caused by
cancer, nerve damage or AIDS. Studies on acute pain, surgical pain and
migraine headaches have been less conclusive.

Nausea in cancer patients.

Marijuana components can reduce the nausea and vomiting associated with
chemotherapy, but clinical trials show they are not as effective as newly
introduced antinausea drugs.

For patients who do not respond to standard therapy, marijuana may be a good
alternative. Smoked marijuana is preferred by some patients because pills
are difficult to keep down when nauseated and do not act as quickly.

Wasting in AIDS patients.

The standard treatment of appetite stimulants has not proven successful in
patients who rapidly lose weight.

Marijuana is a promising treatment for wasting because it helps control
nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety.

For this reason, it may also prove useful to counter malnutrition in
terminal cancer patients.

THC is not recommended to treat anorexia nervosa, because it could affect
underlying psychiatric disorders such as depression that may contribute to
the disease.

Multiple sclerosis.

There is some evidence that marijuana compounds can reduce spasticity, but
more proof is needed.

THC might help patients with multiple sclerosis, who can suffer from intense
and lengthy muscle spasms. There is little evidence to suggest marijuana can
aid movement disorders such as Huntington's chorea or Parkinson's disease.
Epilepsy. Despite anecdotal reports that marijuana controls epileptic
seizures, there is little evidence to support this.

Alzheimer's disease.

One study showed THC improved appetite and reduced disturbed behavior in
patients, suggesting more studies should be done.

Glaucoma.

Marijuana and THC reduce the eyeball pressure that increases risk of
glaucoma and blindness, but the effect lasts only a few hours and requires
high doses.

Other treatments, including topical drugs and surgery, are more effective.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

National Institute Urges Medical Marijuana Use (The Knight Ridder Newspapers
version in the Centre Daily Times, in Pennsylvania)

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 21:52:11 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US PA: MMJ: National Institute Urges Medical Marijuana Use
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org)
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Centre Daily Times (PA)
Copyright: 1999 Nittany Printing and Publishing Co., Inc.
Contact: wreader@centredaily.com
Website: http://www.centredaily.com/
Forum: http://vh1615.infi.net/chat/world/html/index.html
Author: Usha Lee McFarling, Knight Ridder Newspapers

NATIONAL INSTITUTE URGES MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE

WASHINGTON -- Entering the fractious debate over medical marijuana,
the nation's Institute of Medicine recommended Wednes-day that
marijuana cigarettes be made available for short periods to help
cancer and AIDS patients who can find no other relief for their severe
pain and nausea.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services almost
immediately responded by saying they would not dispense marijuana to
individual patients until more clinical research showed it was safe.

Still, the report was seen as a victory by many who advocate the use
of marijuana as medicine.

The response from drug-fighting groups was subdued.

An explosion of recent scientific work, as well as patient anecdotes,
shows that compounds in marijuana have potential to ease some of
medicine's most intractable problems, the Institute of Medicine report
said.

But its authors warned that smoking marijuana carries its own health
hazards -- including lung damage and low-birth-weight babies -- and
should be used only as a last resort after standard therapies have
failed.

Addiction was seen as a relatively minor problem likely to affect only
a few users.

To avoid the smoke, they called for new delivery systems, like
inhalers, and for the development of pharmaceutical drugs made from or
modeled after the active ingredients in marijuana, chemicals known as
cannabinoids.

"Marijuana's future as a medicine does not involve smoking," said Dr.
Stanley Watson, a neuroscientist and substance abuse expert from the
University of Michigan who co-authored the report. "It involves
exploiting the potential in cannabinoids."

The endorsement pleased groups that have been working to make
marijuana available to patients. Many were expecting a blander call
for further research. "It's a discreet but clear call to make
marijuana available," said Ethan A. Nadelman, dir-ector of the
Lindesmith Center, a New York-based drug policy think tank.

Other advocates, including the National Organization for the Re-form
of Marijuana Laws and Harvard Medical School professor Lester
Grinspoon, were more critical, calling the report "tepid" and
"political." They said it ignored the fact that many patients have
successfully used marijuana as medicine for years with few harmful
effects.

Battles over medical marijuana have raged across the nation since
1996, when California passed a ballot initiative that removed any
state penalties from people who used marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Since then, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and Washington state have
passed laws permitting the use of medical marijuana.

Many mainstream medical organizations, and the relatively conservative
New England Journal of Medicine, have endorsed the use of medical marijuana.

But last fall Congress overwhel-mingly passed a resolution condemning
the medical use of marijuana and because federal law still outlaws
marijuana use, many physicians are reluctant to prescribe it, even in
states that have passed initiatives.

"There are so many strictures on doctors, so much uncertainty on the
part of licensing boards ... that nothing's happened," said Dr. John
A. Benson Jr., a former dean of the Oregon Health Sciences University
School of Medicine and the report's other co-author.

Only eight patients in the United States have federal government
permission to smoke marijuana for their conditions.

They receive government-grown cigarettes under a "compassionate use"
program no longer in existence.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Study: Pot 'Moderately' Useful As Medicine (The Washington Post version in
the Tampa Tribune says Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar who
requested the report, said he endorsed it "thoroughly." McCaffrey said he
wouldn't oppose limited studies of smoked marijuana until a less harmful way
of inhaling the substance's active ingredients is found.)

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 18:35:13 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US FL: MMJ: Study: Pot 'Moderately' Useful As Medicine
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org)
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 1999, The Tribune Co.
Contact: tribletters@tampatrib.com
Website: http://www.tampatrib.com/
Forum: http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.htm
Author: David Brown of The Washington Post

STUDY: POT 'MODERATELY' USEFUL AS MEDICINE

WASHINGTON - Reliable data on the use of marijuana for medical purposes
have been difficult to get because of its classification.

The active substances in marijuana may be ``moderately'' useful for
treating such problems as pain, nausea and appetite loss, but smoked
marijuana has little future as a medicine, a panel of experts advising
the federal government said Wednesday.

The long-awaited review comes after several states legalized marijuana
for medical use and was immediately seized upon by marijuana advocates
as an endorsement of their position.

``We are very pleased with this report, which clearly shows there is
scientific evidence that marijuana has bona fide therapeutic effects
for some patients,'' said Chuck Thomas, the director of the
Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project. ``Patients already using
marijuana should be given the benefit of the doubt and should not be
arrested.''

The report, prepared by 11 scientists convened by the National Academy
of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, specifically warned against smoked
marijuana because of risks of lung damage. The panel advocated
research aimed at isolating marijuana's ingredients and testing them
in randomized controlled trials.

Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar who requested the report,
said he endorsed it ``thoroughly,'' and called it a ``significant
contribution to discussing the issue from a scientific and medical
viewpoint.'' He said he wouldn't oppose limited studies of smoked
marijuana until a less harmful way of inhaling the substance's active
ingredients is found.

``I would note, however, that the report says smoked marijuana has
little future as an approved medication,'' McCaffrey said. ``You
should not expect to go into an ICU in 15 years and find someone with
prostate cancer with a blunt stuck in his face as a pain management
tool.''

The 250-page report was prepared using published medical studies on
marijuana's physiological effects and possible clinical benefits, and
took testimony from researchers and patients.

The claims for marijuana are very broad. People have used it as
treatment for nausea caused by chemotherapy, appetite loss arising
from AIDS, the painful spasms of multiple sclerosis the sight-
threatening condition known as glaucoma and the memory loss of
Alzheimer's disease.

Reliable data on the drug's benefits have been been hard to get
because of its designation as a controlled substance. The Drug
Enforcement Administration places marijuana - along with other
addictive drugs - in the category reserved for substances with ``a
high abuse potential.'' Many of the claims for pot are based on small,
poorly designed studies, or on ``clinical anecdotes,'' the recounted
experience of individual people.

The body produces a marijuana-like substance naturally that stimulates
specific receptors on nerve cells distributed widely in the brain.
Marijuana contains about 30 active ingredients, collectively known as
``cannabinoids,'' that also activate these receptors. One cannabinoid
drug, dronabinol, is licensed in the United States for use in appetite
stimulation in AIDS patients, and to prevent nausea and vomiting
caused by chemotherapy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Panel Sees Potential For Medical Marijuana (The original Washington Post
version)

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 13:35:50 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US DC: U.S. Panel Sees Potential For Medical Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: cohip@levellers.org (Colo. Hemp Init. Project)
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: David Brown, Washington Post Staff Writer

U.S. PANEL SEES POTENTIAL FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

More Research Urged; Smoking Discouraged

The active substances in marijuana may be "moderately" useful for
treating such problems as pain, nausea and appetite loss, but smoked
marijuana has little future as a medicine, a panel of experts advising
the federal government said yesterday.

The long-awaited review comes after several states have legalized
marijuana for medical use, and was immediately seized upon by
marijuana's advocates as an endorsement of their position.

"We are very pleased with this report, which clearly shows there is
scientific evidence that marijuana has bona fide therapeutic effects
for some patients," said Chuck Thomas, the director of the
Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project. "Patients already using
marijuana should be given the benefit of the doubt, and should not be
arrested."

The report, prepared by 11 scientists convened by the National Academy
of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, specifically warned against smoked
marijuana because of risks of lung damage. Therapeutic marijuana
smoking should be permitted only in a few short clinical trials
designed to assess claims for marijuana's usefulness as a
pharmaceutical.

White House drug control policy director Barry R. McCaffrey, who
requested the report, said he endorsed it "thoroughly" and called it a
"significant contribution to discussing the issue from a scientific
and medical viewpoint." He said he would not oppose limited studies of
smoked marijuana until a less harmful way of inhaling the substance's
active ingredients is found.

"I would note, however, that the report says 'smoked marijuana has
little future as an approved medication,' " McCaffrey said. "You
should not expect to go into an ICU [intensive care unit] in 15 years
and find someone with prostate cancer with a 'blunt' stuck in his face
as a pain management tool."

The 250-page report was prepared over the last year at a cost of
$896,000. The panel reviewed published medical studies on marijuana's
physiological effects and possible clinical benefits, and took
testimony from researchers and patients.

The claims for marijuana are very broad. People have used it as
treatment for nausea caused by chemotherapy, appetite loss arising
from AIDS, the painful spasms of multiple sclerosis, the pain of
migraine headache, the sight-threatening condition known as glaucoma
and the memory loss of Alzheimer's disease.

Reliable data on the drug's benefits, however, have been hard to get.
The Drug Enforcement Administration places marijuana -- along with
heroin and several other addictive drugs -- in the category reserved
for substances with "a high abuse potential." This has made research
on patients unusually difficult. Many of the claims for marijuana are
based on small, poorly designed studies, or on "clinical anecdotes,"
the recounted experiences of individuals.

The body produces a marijuana-like substance naturally -- its
evolutionary purpose is uncertain -- which stimulates specific
receptors on nerve cells distributed widely in the brain. Marijuana
contains about 30 active ingredients, collectively known as
"cannabinoids," that also activate these receptors. One cannabinoid
drug, dronabinol, is licensed in the United States for use in appetite
stimulation in AIDS patients, and to prevent nausea and vomiting
caused by chemotherapy.

"There is remarkable consensus about the science -- the science
suggests the potential of cannabinoid drugs for medical use," said
John A. Benson Jr., the former dean of the Oregon Health Sciences
University School of Medicine, who was one of the two heads of the
panel. "There is far less convincing data about actual medical benefits."

Most studies suggest there are existing drugs that do what marijuana
is reputed to do, but better. This was especially true in the case of
glaucoma treatment and nausea prevention, the panel found.
Nevertheless, a few patients who do not respond to those
pharmaceuticals are helped by marijuana.

The panel advocated research aimed at isolating marijuana's
ingredients and testing them in randomized controlled trials. An
inhalation device is a high priority because it will allow patients to
take in the drug as quickly as when it's smoked, without delivering
tar and other unwanted substances. In the meantime, studies of smoked
marijuana are warranted, the panel said. They should last six months
or less, and enroll patients, such as those with terminal cancer, for
whom the long-term risks of smoking are relatively
unimportant.

The panel found no evidence that closely controlled medical marijuana
use would be a "gateway" to illicit drug use, either in ill patients
or in society at large.

In the last three years, seven states have passed referenda allowing
the medical use of marijuana. Several, however, have run into legal
problems, and the statutes have not taken effect.

In the District, a marijuana legalization measure appeared on the
ballot in November. Ballots were counted, but the results were not
released because Congress prohibited the spending of public money on
the legalization effort. The matter is now in federal court.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Report Concedes Pot Has Medical Benefits (The Washington Times version)

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 13:53:00 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: MMJ: Report Concedes Pot Has Medical Benefits
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 1999 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact: letter@twtmail.com
Website: http://www.washtimes.com/

REPORT CONCEDES POT HAS MEDICAL BENEFITS

Marijuana Study Also Warns Of Hazards

A White House report acknowledged yesterday that marijuana may have
medical benefits for patients with advanced forms of cancer or AIDS,
but also warned of serious health hazards from smoking the drug.

The report, commissioned by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of
the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, found no conclusive
evidence that marijuana leads to the abuse of drugs like heroin and
cocaine. Moreover, it found no evidence that the limited medical use
of marijuana would increase the public abuse of the drug.

"The real issue is the ability to separate medicinal use from
substance abuse," said Dr. Stanley J. Watson Jr., a research scientist
at the University of Michigan and co-director of the study.

Still, the report is likely to re-ignite the debate over medical
marijuana. Supporters have long argued that marijuana's therapeutic
benefits outweigh critics' fears that its use will inevitably lead to
abuse of hard drugs.

In fact, the report offers something for both sides.

Patient advocacy groups say it supports patients' right to keep
marijuana for relief of severe pain and nausea.

Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights, the sponsor
of six 1998 state marijuana initiatives, 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," he said. "This is about as positive as you can
get."

Drug-control advocates say the report bolsters their contention that
it is the active ingredients of marijuana - not the plant itself -
that has medicinal qualities. They urge more research into harnessing
those compounds.

Mr. McCaffrey, who has long opposed relaxing marijuana laws, said the
government would support such research. His office highlighted the
report's conclusion: "If there is any future for marijuana as
medicine, it lies in its isolated components - the cannabinoids and
their synthetic derivatives."

In a statement, Mr. McCaffrey's office praised the report for its
thorough and careful analysis, and promised to study the report's
conclusions and recommendations.

Marijuana is used to treat diseases ranging from glaucoma to multiple
sclerosis, migraines and movement disorders like Parkinson's or
Huntington's disease.

The report found little data to show that the drug was an effective
treatment for those conditions. That is partly due to the lack of
formal scientific tests; the report therefore recommended that
rigorous tests be done to see how well marijuana performs on such diseases.

Marijuana does seem to be useful for treating cancer patients
suffering nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, or restoring the
appetites of AIDS patients suffering from nausea and weight loss.

But Dr. John A. Benson Jr., professor of medicine at the Oregon Health
Sciences University School of Medicine and the co-director of the
study, stressed: "Marijuana's potential as medicine is seriously
undermined by the fact that people smoke it, thereby increasing their
chance of cancer, lung damage, and problems with pregnancies."

The marijuana leaf contains more tar than tobacco, along with many
other potential cancer-causing agents, he said.

Dr. Watson proposed developing inhalers, like those used for asthma,
that would eliminate the need for smoking marijuana to get its
pain-relieving benefits.

BOX

THE SCIENCE OF MARIJUANA

An independent review of the latest science found that marijuana may
have potential medical uses, but that additional research is needed to
enhance its benefits. The report recommended that researchers:

* Investigate how marijuana's active ingredients affect the body, and
how the drugs are able to relieve pain, control nausea and vomiting,
and stimulate appetite in patients.

* Conduct clinical trials of cannabinoid drugs to test how well they
relieve symptoms, with the goal of developing quick, reliable and
potent systems for administering the drugs.

* Evaluate the drugs' psychological effects, such as euphoria, anxiety
reduction and sedation, to see whether they affect the perception of
medical benefits in patients.

* Study the individual health risks of smoking marijuana.

* Require that medical marijuana be approved by a medical review
board, and that it be given to patients for six months or less.

* Require that patient candidates have debilitating symptoms, such as
extreme pain, that are not relieved by standard drugs, and that they
be under careful medical supervision while taking marijuana.

Source: Institute of Medicine

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical Role For Pot Is Seen (The Richmond Times-Dispatch version quotes Dr.
Billy Martin of Virginia Commonwealth University, a government researcher who
served as an adviser for the report, saying the additional clinical trials it
recommends "are not a politically positive thing to do.")

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 18:00:57 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US VA: MMJ: Medical Role For Pot Is Seen
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org)
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 1999, Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact: feedback@gateway-va.com
Fax: 804-775-8072
Website: http://www.gateway-va.com/
Author: A.j. Hostetler, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

MEDICAL ROLE FOR POT IS SEEN

Report Urges Clinical Trials Of Marijuana

The latest federal report on marijuana's medical uses calls for
further study so that patients suffering from pain and nausea can
benefit from pot's active ingredients without inhaling its smoke.

The Institute of Medicine report, which likely will reignite the
debate over marijuana, says there is no conclusive evidence that
smoking pot leads to using harder drugs.

The report, released yesterday, says that because the chemicals in
marijuana ease anxiety and pain, stimulate the appetite and reduce
nausea and vomiting, they can help people undergoing chemotherapy or
those with AIDS.

"This report says that under certain circumstances, in chronic
patients, that medical marijuana has a role, and we should conduct
clinical trials to determine its efficacy," said Dr. Billy Martin of
Virginia Commonwealth University, who served as an adviser for the
report. "Just like we've done with anything else."

The report stresses that it is marijuana's active ingredients, the
cannabinoids, not the plant itself, that have medicinal value.

"Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact
that patients must inhale harmful smoke," said one of the report's
editors, Stanley Watson of the University of Michigan.

Smoking pot should be recommended only for terminally ill patients or
for those who do not respond to other treatments, the report says.

The report was commissioned in 1997 by the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy as a review of research on marijuana's
medicinal uses. It does not address legalization. It comes 17 years
after the first federal scientific report on marijuana and 18 months
after the National Institutes of Health concluded that there are too
few scientific studies to determine marijuana's therapeutic utility,
but that research into its medical uses was justified.

The drug control office said it would examine 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.

The report urges clinical trials to determine the usefulness of
marijuana in treating muscle spasms. It also urges development of
standardized forms of marijuana's cannabinoids that patients can
easily use, such as inhalers.

Marinol, a drug based on marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, THC,
already is on the market. It is federally approved to treat nausea and
vomiting associated with chemotherapy, as well as the anorexia and
wasting AIDS patients often suffer. However, marijuana advocates say
it doesn't work as well as the real thing.

While smoked marijuana also has been promoted as a treatment for
glaucoma, the report says it only temporarily reduces some of the eye
pressure associated with the disease. Glaucoma often has been cited by
marijuana advocates as benefiting from smoked pot.

Despite claims by opponents of marijuana's medical uses that pot is a
"gateway" drug leading to more dangerous drugs such as heroin and
cocaine, the report concludes that there is no such evidence.

In fact, the report says, most drug users did not begin with marijuana
but 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.

VCU's Martin, who has spent the past two decades studying marijuana,
its effects on the brain and how and to what extent users become
dependent, said he expects the report and its recommendations to be
controversial because of the stigma attached to research on illegal
drugs.

"It could be that [the report] will give the NIH some cover for
supporting some clinical trials," he said. Such studies "are not a
politically positive thing to do," given that passions run high among
marijuana's advocates and critics.

Congress, for example, has taken a hard line on the issue, with the
House last fall adopting by 310-93 a resolution that said marijuana
was a dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for
medical use.

There is some political support for the legal medical use of
marijuana. Voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada,
Oregon and Washington recently approved measures in pot's support. In
Virginia, a 1979 law allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes,
although federal law still bans its use.

The Drug Free American Foundation, based in St. Petersburg, Fla.,
opposes voter referendums on marijuana, saying that pot's medical use
and research should be determined by its proven scientific value.

"This is not a voter issue," said Katherine Ford, a spokeswoman for
the group. "Let's see the science on this."

One patient, a former Virginian whose doctor prescribed pot to relieve
his pain, 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 stockbroker in Boca Raton, Fla., and
one of just eight people in the country receiving marijuana from the
government because of unusual diseases.

"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.

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's illness was diagnosed in 1979, when he lived in Portsmouth.

The Institute of Medicine, an affiliate of the National Academy of
Sciences, provides the federal government with independent scientific
advice.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medicinal Marijuana Gets Support (The News & Observer version, in North
Carolina.)

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 21:46:22 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NC: MMJ: Medicinal Marijuana Gets Support
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org)
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: News & Observer (NC)
Copyright: 1999 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact: forum@nando.com
Website: http://www.news-observer.com/
Author: Usha Lee McFarling, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Note: The local spin below "Those cigarettes are rolled by Research
Triangle Institute in North Carolina under a federal contract."

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA GETS SUPPORT

WASHINGTON -- Entering the debate over medical marijuana, the nation's
Institute of Medicine recommended Wednesday that marijuana cigarettes
be made available for short periods to help cancer and AIDS patients
who can find no other relief for their severe pain and nausea.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services almost
immediately responded by saying they would not dispense marijuana to
individual patients until more clinical research showed it was safe.

Still, the report was seen as a victory by many who advocate the use
of marijuana as medicine. The response from anti-drug groups was subdued.

Recent scientific work and patient anecdotes show that compounds in
marijuana have potential to ease some of medicine's most intractable
problems, the Institute of Medicine report said. But its authors
warned that smoking marijuana carries its own health hazards --
including lung damage and low-birthweight babies -- and should be used
only as a last resort after standard therapies have failed. Addiction
was seen as a relatively minor problem likely to affect only a few
users.

To avoid the smoke, authors called for new delivery systems, like
inhalers, and for the development of pharmaceutical drugs made from or
modeled after the active ingredients in marijuana, chemicals known as
cannabinoids.

"Marijuana's future as a medicine does not involve smoking," said Dr.
Stanley Watson, a neuroscientist and substance-abuse expert from the
University of Michigan who co-wrote the report. "It involves
exploiting the potential in cannabinoids."

The endorsement pleased groups that have been working to make
marijuana available to patients. Many were expecting a blander call
for further research. "It's a discreet but clear call to make
marijuana available," said Ethan A. Nadelman, who directs the
Lindesmith Center, a New York-based drug policy think tank.

Other advocates, including the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws and Harvard Medical School professor Lester Grinspoon,
were more critical, calling the report "tepid" and "political." They
said it ignored the fact that many patients have successfully used
marijuana as medicine for years with few harmful effects.

Battles over medical marijuana have raged across the nation since
1996, when California passed a ballot initiative that removed any
state penalties from people who used marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Since then, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and Washington state have
passed laws permitting the medical use of marijuana.

Many mainstream medical organizations, and the relatively conservative
New England Journal of Medicine, have endorsed the medical use of marijuana.

But last fall, Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning
the medical use of marijuana, and because federal law still outlaws
marijuana use, many physicians are reluctant to prescribe it, even in
states that have passed initiatives.

"There are so many strictures on doctors, so much uncertainty on the
part of licensing boards ... that nothing's happened," said Dr. John
A. Benson Jr., a former dean of the Oregon Health Sciences University
School of Medicine and the report's other co-author.

Only eight patients in the United States have federal government
permission to smoke marijuana for their conditions. They receive
government-grown cigarettes under a "compassionate use" program no
longer in existence. Each patient receives about 300 cigarettes a month.

Those cigarettes are rolled by Research Triangle Institute in North
Carolina under a federal contract. The institute uses marijuana grown
on a government farm at the University of Mississippi campus in
Oxford. In 1996, RTI estimated that it spent on average between
$50,000 and $100,000 each year making marijuana cigarettes.

On Wednesday, Dr. Randy Wykoff, associate commissioner of the Food and
Drug Administration, said individual patients were not likely to
receive marijuana until it is proved "safe and effective."

Marijuana advocates predicted change is more likely to come with
state-by-state ballot initiatives.

The federal government's most visible opponent of medical marijuana
has been White House drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey. In campaigning
against state marijuana initiatives, he said that there was no proof
marijuana had medical benefits, that marijuana was a gateway drug that
led to abuse of drugs like heroin and that allowing marijuana to be
used as medicine would increase illicit recreational marijuana use.

McCaffrey, who heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
commissioned the institute's $900,000 report in response to calls that
federal drug policy on medical marijuana be changed.

The study disarms some of McCaffrey's arguments. Its authors found no
evidence that marijuana use caused people to progress to harder drugs
or that medical use brought increases in recreational use.

In a statement, McCaffrey said he would study the report's
conclusions. He emphasized that there is some evidence that marijuana
is addictive and can lead to further drug use. He left it to the
nation's health agencies to judge whether more patients should be
provided with marijuana cigarettes.

Other anti-drug groups seemed to signal a softening in their strong
public stance against medical marijuana. "We support all the
recommendations," said Steve Dnistrian, an executive vice president of
the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the nonprofit organization
that creates anti-drug public service announcements. "Who are we to
contradict what the doctors and scientists say?"

The report concluded that marijuana compounds hold the most potential
for easing pain and nausea caused by AIDS, chemotherapy and nerve
damage and would likely benefit only those who do not respond to
standard drugs, which work in a majority of patients. It also said
side effects like euphoria can enhance patient well-being. The report
found little proof that marijuana will help with migraine headaches,
epilepsy, glaucoma or Parkinson's and Huntington's disease.

The report's authors said they were excited by findings in recent
years that the human brain has its own marijuana-like compounds, or
cannabinoids, and that they regulate pain, movement and memory.

The report favors alternative delivery systems, such as inhalers that
can rapidly deliver compounds to the body for quick relief. There is
now only one marijuana-based drug available: Marinol, a pill with a
single active ingredient called THC. Many patients say it is not
effective and works too slowly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Experts Advocate Marijuana For Patients (The Miami Herald version)

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 21:27:39 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US FL: U.S. Experts Advocate Marijuana For Patients
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Richard Lake 
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 1999 The Miami Herald
Contact: heralded@herald.com
Website: http://www.herald.com/
Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald
Author: Usha Lee McFarling, Herald Washington Bureau
Note: Part below starting at: "A Florida glaucoma patient, Elvy Musikka of
Hollywood, started using marijuana in 1976. She started getting it legally
prescribed after a 1988 court battle."

U.S. EXPERTS ADVOCATE MARIJUANA FOR PATIENTS

WASHINGTON -- Entering the fractious debate over medical marijuana,
the nation's Institute of Medicine recommended Wednesday that
marijuana cigarettes be made available for short periods to help
cancer and AIDS patients who can find no other relief for their severe
pain and nausea.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services almost
immediately responded by saying they would not dispense marijuana to
individual patients until more clinical research showed it is safe.

Still, the report was seen as a victory by many who advocate the use
of marijuana as medicine. The response from drug-fighting groups was
subdued.

An explosion of recent scientific work, as well as patient anecdotes,
shows that compounds in marijuana have potential to ease some of
medicine's most intractable problems, said the report from the
Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

But its authors warned that smoking marijuana carries its own health
hazards -- including lung damage and low-birth-weight babies -- and
should be adopted only as a last resort after standard therapies have
failed. Addiction was seen as a relatively minor problem likely to
affect few users.

To avoid the smoke, they called for new delivery systems, like
inhalers, and for the development of pharmaceutical drugs made from or
modeled after the active ingredients in marijuana, chemicals known as
cannabinoids.

``Marijuana's future as a medicine does not involve smoking,'' said
Dr. Stanley Watson, a neuroscientist and substance-abuse expert from
the University of Michigan who co-authored the report. ``It involves
exploiting the potential in cannabinoids.''

The endorsement pleased groups that have been working to make
marijuana available to patients. Many were expecting a blander call
for further research. ``It's a discreet but clear call to make
marijuana available,'' said Ethan A. Nadelman, who directs the
Lindesmith Center, a New York-based drug policy think tank.

Report Is Called Tepid

Other advocates, including the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws and Harvard Medical School Professor Lester Grinspoon,
were more critical, calling the report ``tepid'' and ``political.''
They said it ignored the fact that many patients have successfully
used marijuana as medicine for years with few harmful effects.

Battles over medical marijuana have been fought across the nation
since 1996, when California passed a ballot initiative that removed
any state penalties from people who used marijuana for medicinal
purposes. Since then, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and Washington
state have passed laws permitting the use of medical marijuana.

Some mainstream medical organizations, and the relatively conservative
New England Journal of Medicine, have endorsed the use of medical marijuana.

But last fall Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning
the medical use of marijuana, and because federal law still outlaws
marijuana use, many physicians are reluctant to prescribe it, even in
states that have passed initiatives.

`Nothing's Happened'

``There are so many strictures on doctors, so much uncertainty on the
part of licensing boards . . . that nothing's happened,'' said Dr.
John A. Benson Jr., a former dean of the Oregon Health Sciences
University School of Medicine and the report's other co-author.

Only eight patients in the United States have federal government
permission to smoke marijuana for their conditions. They receive
government-grown cigarettes under a ``compassionate use'' program no
longer open to patients.

A Florida glaucoma patient, Elvy Musikka of Hollywood, started using
marijuana in 1976. She started getting it legally prescribed after a
1988 court battle. Her drugs are provided each month through her
doctor at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. The drugs come from the
National Institute of Drug Abuse on the campus of the University of
Mississippi.

Some glaucoma patients use marijuana to reduce pressure behind the
eyes.

``I'd be blind'' without regular use of the drug, said Musikka, who is
in her 50s. ``My life would have turned into a total disaster if I
didn't do this. I would have become a tax burden. Instead, I have
limited vision and I can get around on my own.''

Drug Director's Views

The federal government's most visible opponent of medical marijuana
has been White House drug-control director Barry McCaffrey. In
campaigning against state marijuana initiatives, he said there was no
proof that marijuana has medical benefits, that marijuana is a gateway
drug that leads to abuse of drugs like heroin and that allowing
marijuana to be used as medicine would increase illicit recreational
marijuana use.

McCaffrey, who heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
commissioned the institute's $900,000 report in response to calls that
federal drug policy on medical marijuana be changed.

The study disarms some of McCaffrey's arguments. Its authors found no
evidence that marijuana use caused people to progress to harder drugs
or that medical use brought increases in recreational use.

In a statement, McCaffrey said he would study the report's
conclusions. He emphasized that there is some evidence that marijuana
is addictive and can lead to further drug use. He left it to the
nation's health agencies to judge whether more patients should be
provided with marijuana cigarettes.

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