MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULING DECRIED

"This is not going to be over until we win," vowed Dennis Peron, author of
the California proposition that in 1996 legalized the use of marijuana as
medicine in the state. Peron and other proponents decried Monday's
unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cannabis may not be given to
patients, even with a doctor's prescription.

While the ruling is largely being construed as saying that federal laws
override the California statute allowing the medicinal use of pot, Peron
rejects that interpretation.

"Yes this is a big setback for the sale of marijuana," said Peron, director
of Californians for Compassionate Use of Marijuana.

"But as I see it, we can still cultivate marijuana for medicinal use,
possess it and use it -- just not sell it," he said.

Peron, also founder of the Cannabis Farm in Lake County, three hours north
of here, is so convinced that his interpretation of the ruling is correct
that he plans to continue growing the plant and providing it for free to
some 300 patients who have shown medical necessity.

Separating Science From Politics:

Medical necessity is the key here, said San Francisco AIDS specialist Dr.
Donald Abrams, who has been unraveling marijuana's mysteries since 1997,
when he was granted approval for the first federally sponsored study of its
effects in HIV-infected patients.

"I try to separate science and politics," Abrams said. "But then you get a
situation like this, where the Supreme Court decides they are medical
authorities."

High Court Rejects Medical Marijuana:

Pointing out that the government's own Institute of Medicine has issued an
expert report concluding that marijuana may have medical benefits and is
worthy of further study, Abrams said that the judiciary might not be the
best people to be determining what is best for the patient.

"That being the case, we need to do what we can to make it available to
patients," he said.

Proponents of medical pot say it helps AIDS patients keep eating; relieves
nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy; alleviates the
chronic pain of conditions including headaches, arthritis and degenerative
nerve disease; and lowers the increased intraocular pressure associated
with glaucoma.

Several Trials Underway:

Abrams and others already have several trials underway, including one to
determine if marijuana helps to increase appetite in HIV-positive patients
- -- giving them the "munchies," as it were -- thereby warding off the
debilitating weight loss associated with the AIDS wasting syndrome.

So far, only the pilot trial, designed to show safety, has been completed
and is under review for publication, Abrams said.

The study, which set out to determine whether marijuana is safe when taken
in combination with the protease inhibitors that have become a standard
part of the drug cocktails given to many HIV-positive patients, "showed no
apparent detrimental effects," he said.

And compared with patients given placebo, "we saw weight gain in the
marijuana group," he said.

Thanks to funds being made available by the state of California, studies of
marijuana's effects in inducing weight gain and relieving nerve pain in
AIDS patients will continue as will a trial looking at whether it reduces
spasticity in those with multiple sclerosis, Abrams said.

While Abrams prefers medicine be handled by doctors, both he and Peron said
that more legislation is needed. Peron points out that Rep. Barney Frank of
Massachusetts has introduced a bill in Congress that that would reclassify
marijuana as a schedule II drug, which means that like cocaine, it could be
prescribed by doctors, albeit with tight restrictions.

"You can't have one law in 41 states and another in the other nine," said
Peron, referring to the fact that since 1996, eight other states -- Alaska,
Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington -- have
adopted similar laws to California's.

"We will change the scheduling," he asserted with conviction.

Abrams said he also sees the need for some such legislation. "Every state
bordering on the Pacific now has a law legalizing marijuana as medicine,"
he said. "And one-fourth of the U.S. population live in these states."

The Bush administration has said it believes in state rights, Abrams said.
"Now, let's see if they put their money where their mouth is."

Note: High court's decision not in patients' best interest, some say.