MARIJUANA: A SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSY

Much of the debate surrounding the use of marijuana as medicine stems from
conflicting claims over its medical benefits.

Although medical marijuana has a documented history, dating back to 2737
B.C. when Chinese Emperor Shen purportedly urged its use for various
ailments, modern society has generally shunned the substance.

In fact, the federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug,
considered to have high potential for abuse and no known medical benefits.

Yet many Arkansans claim to have received significant benefits from
marijuana used to relieve pain, nausea and stimulate the appetite, among
others.

Despite the evidence proponents use to prove marijuana is a beneficial
medicine, federal officials continue to say marijuana has no medical
benefits.

Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
wrote in a March 1998 letter to then speaker of the house Newt Gingrich,
"...marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug, and should not be legalized
for medicinal use. State ballot initiatives that define marijuana as a
'medicine' fail to address the negative impact such legislation would have
on the health of our youth and the nation's scientific process of approving
medications."

Adding to the scientific confusion, the Arkansas Department of Health issued
a press release Feb. 3 revealing the department's negative stance toward the
use of marijuana as medicine.

"Scientific research has shown marijuana to be harmful to a person's brain,
heart, lungs, immune system, memory, perception, judgment and motivation.
Use of marijuana as a beneficial medicine projects a false and fraudulent
message contradicting current scientific knowledge and research."

Yet, some believe, the Health Department press release seems to run contrary
to current scientific knowledge and research.

Retired Fayetteville physician John Day, former director of the University
of Arkansas Health Clinic, as well as doctor of internal medicine at the
Veterans Administration Medical Center, said scientific evidence is too
often used as political ammunition to support continued marijuana
prohibition.

As a supporter of the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas, an
organization working to place an initiative on the ballot for November's
general election legalizing marijuana for medical use, Day said scientific
literature clearly shows marijuana does alleviate nausea and vomiting,
chronic pain and stimulates the appetite better than many prescription
drugs.

And, when comparing side effects of marijuana to the those of popular
prescription pain killers, Day said, evidence shows the herb is far safer
than most legal drugs.

"The science just doesn't back up Boozman [Dr. Fay Boozman, Health
Department director]," he concluded.

To help end the debate about marijuana's medical benefits, in January 1997,
armed with $1 million for research, the Office of National Drug Control
Policy requested the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine to
conduct a thorough review of the scientific evidence for both the benefits
and risks associated with marijuana.

According to the executive summary from that study released in March 1999,
"The accumulated data indicate a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid
[marijuana derived] drugs, particularly for symptoms such as pain relief,
control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation." However, the
report also warned, smoking marijuana is a crude delivery system that also
delivers harmful substances.

As a result, to mitigate the harm from smoking marijuana, the report urged
further clinical studies to develop a non-smoked, rapid onset form of
marijuana.

Far from being a knell signaling the demise of the medical marijuana issue,
the IOM report has stirred burgeoning debate among the medical community
over the need for additional study.

Asked if the IOM study seemed to contradict the ADH position on medical
marijuana, Boozman said, the IOM study should not be interpreted as an open
door to legalization of marijuana.

However, he conceded there may be patients who would benefit from the drug.
Boozeman added that while the IOM study revealed marijuana has potential
therapeutic benefits, more research under strictly controlled guidelines is
needed before a final assessment can be offered.

Furthermore, Dr. Joe Bates, deputy state health officer at ADH and professor
of internal medicine and microbiology at the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences, said any future studies of marijuana for medicine should
concentrate on isolating the individual compounds-known as cannabinoids-then
develop a safer delivery mechanism for those chemicals than smoked marijuana
provides.

The Stepping-Stone Effect

Every negative report released about medical marijuana inevitably carries
with it the accusation that smoking the drug will cause a person to
experiment with more dangerous drugs like methamphetamine or heroin, thus
escalating the social ills resulting from drug abuse.

However, as with all information about marijuana, opponents and proponents
of its use offer conflicting evidence.

Federal law enforcement officials have warned the public of marijuana's
stepping-stone effect for decades.

In a 1998 letter from the drug-czar McCaffrey to Gingrich, he wrote,
"Marijuana is also associated with behavior leading to more extensive drug
use."

The website for the National Institute on Drug Abuse also claims marijuana
has been known to lead people to use harder drugs.

Local law enforcement officials agree.

Asked about medical marijuana use, Washington County Sheriff Kenneth McKee
said he believes the drug is definitely a stepping stone to other, more
harmful substances, and legalization for medical use should not be
considered without scientific evidence of its benefit.

Yet evidence for marijuana as a stepping-stone to crime or harder drugs are
not so clear for area drug abuse counselors or the district prosecutor.

Larry Counts, director of Decision Point, a Springdale based substance abuse
treatment facility, said empirical evidence shows literally thousands of
addicts first used marijuana before trying other drugs.

However, he also acknowledged there is no direct evidence that using
marijuana causes a person to experiment with hard drugs.

As far as crime resulting from marijuana use, Terry Jones, 4th Judicial
District Prosecuting Attorney, said his office is not overly concerned about
marijuana, as the herb is benign compared to the threat methamphetamine has
become to Arkansans.

"As far as marijuana causing crime," Jones said, "That would be zero."

The prosecutor's office does not encounter cases where people break into
homes searching for money to buy marijuana, he said.

"On a list of drugs I'd like to see removed from the earth forever," Jones
said, "Marijuana would be about 200 yards behind meth."

Even the IOM study released in March seems to debunk the stepping-stone
argument.

"There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are
causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs," the report
says.

Furthermore, the report adds, the suggestion that medical marijuana would
increase drug abuse should not be a factor in the medical marijuana debate
at all.

According to Denele Campbell, president of the Alliance for Reform of Drug
Policy in Arkansas and a firm believer in the medical benefits of marijuana,
there is no credible scientific study demonstrating marijuana causes
increased drug use.

In fact, she said, the IOM study found most drug abusers begin with alcohol
and nicotine - both legal drugs - and if society is truly concerned about
removing genuine stepping-stones to addiction, they should focus on the real
culprits.

Perhaps the best argument against the stepping-stone effect, Campbell said,
are the examples set by hundreds of successful Americans who have used
marijuana and not become hard drug users.

"If marijuana is a stepping stone, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Newt Gingrich
[all admitted marijuana experimenters] wouldn't have been so successful,"
she concluded.