MARIJUANA RELIEVES FOOT PAIN, STUDY FINDS

Bush Administration Criticizes S.F. Test

Smoking marijuana eased HIV-related pain in some patients in a small
California study that nevertheless represented one of the few
rigorous attempts to find out if the drug has medicinal benefits.

The Bush administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy
quickly sought to punch holes in the experiment.

The study, conducted at San Francisco General Hospital from 2003 to
2005 and published Monday in the journal Neurology, involved 50
patients suffering from HIV-related foot pain known as peripheral
neuropathy. There are no drugs specifically approved to treat that
kind of pain.

Three times daily for nearly a week, the patients smoked marijuana
cigarettes machine-rolled at the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
the only legal source for the drug recognized by the federal government.

Half the patients received marijuana, while the other 25 received
placebo cigarettes that lacked the drug's active ingredient,
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Scientists said the study was the first
one published that used a comparison group, which is generally
considered the gold standard for scientific research.

Thirteen patients who received marijuana told doctors their pain
eased by at least one-third after smoking pot, while six of those
smoking placebos said likewise. The marijuana smokers reported an
average pain reduction of 34 percent, double the drop reported by the
placebo smokers as measured with a widely accepted pain scale.

"These results provide evidence that there is measurable medical
benefit to smoking cannabis for these patients," said Dr. Donald
Abrams, the University of California-San Francisco professor who led the study.

Many critics agree THC has promise as a painkiller, but they argue
the smoke itself is harmful.

"People who smoke marijuana are subject to bacterial infections in
the lungs," said David Murray, chief scientist at the Office of
National Drug Control Policy. "Is this really what a physician who is
treating someone with a compromised immune system wants to prescribe?"

Murray also questioned the statistical relevance of a study with just
50 participants.

Dr. Mark Ware, a researcher at McGill University in Montreal
conducting similar tests, defended Abrams' study as sound and
statistically reliable.

The study is one of the few human tests in a research field nearly
devoid of federal funding.

"This is a valid medicine, and I want safe access to my medication,"
said Diana Dodson, a 50-year-old grandmother of five who participated
in the test in 2004.

California and 10 other states have passed laws legalizing marijuana
for medicinal purposes, but the federal government considers it a
dangerous drug, like cocaine or heroin. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled
in 2005 that state laws do not protect users from the federal ban.

To conduct the test, Abrams needed authorization from eight academic
and government agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The study cost about $1 million and was paid for by the University of
California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, which has
sponsored several smoked marijuana tests.