TESTING MEDICINAL MARIJUANA URGED

The federal Food and Drug Administration should test marijuana like
it does other drugs to determine its value as a medicine, the
president of the American Medical Association said here Wednesday.

Dr. Randolph Smoak Jr. said the government should find out more about
marijuana before making any policy decisions.

"We don't know if it has medical value," he said in an interview with
the Chattanooga Times Free Press editorial board. "We've told the FDA
that (it) ought to go and find out."

Dr. Smoak, who will speak to members of the Rotary Club of
Chattanooga today, said marijuana should go through the "same rigors"
as other drugs in determining whether it would be an effective
medication.

He said it is difficult to gauge the dosage of something that is
smoked and inhaled. If the FDA could find a medical value for
marijuana, a pill form might be more effective, he said.

Some say using marijuana helps cancer patients cope with the side
effects of chemotherapy.

"If people need pain relief, then they ought to have anything that
God has provided on this earth to help," said state Sen. Steve Cohen,
D-Memphis.

Dr. Russell Jones, a Chattanooga oncologist, said he has no problem
with the FDA testing marijuana but thinks there are better drugs
available.

"The early results with marijuana derivatives for nausea in
chemotherapy were disappointing in my experiences," he said. "There
are more promising avenues to pursue. This is just one that catches
people's eye because of the political and social contrasts."

In 1996 California became the first state to allow prescribed use of
the drug. Only eight other states have medical-marijuana laws in
place or approved by voters. They are Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Maine,
Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Colorado.

Washington, D.C., residents voted in 1998 to allow the medical use of
marijuana, but Congress blocked the measure from becoming law. Many
of the laws, including California's, are tied up in court battles.

Sen. Cohen said a medical-marijuana measure in Tennessee won't be
considered this year but said it should be something the state looks
at in the future.

Dr. Smoak, a South Carolina surgeon, also said the AMA opposes human
cloning but said stem cell research is valuable. Multiple tissue
types can be created from stem cells.

"It should not get to the point of reproducing a human," he said.

He said stem cell research could lead to a cure for paralysis. If
doctors could place reproduced cells in a person's spinal cord, it
could allow it to regenerate, enabling a person to walk again, Dr.
Smoak said.

Dr. Smoak also addressed the AMA's position on doctor-assisted
suicide and the RU-486 abortion pill.

To reduce euthanasia requests, Dr. Smoak said doctors must find
better ways to control pain and preserve a dying person's dignity.

"The problem of giving medicine to people to end their life is a
slippery slope," he said. "We are adamantly opposed to that."

On RU-486, he said abortion is a "very sensitive" subject and the
decision to use the drug -- or to perform a traditional abortion --
should be left up to the patient and the doctor.

Dr. David Stevens, executive director of the 14,000-member Christian
Medical Association, said he is against the abortion pill's use.

"We are opposed to RU-486, and the reason for that is it destroys
life," he said. "We are opposed to abortion except to save a mother's
life."

He said concerns have arisen about the drug's origins in foreign
countries and its potential link to breast cancer.