PHYSICIAN GROUP URGES MARIJUANA RESEARCH

PHILADELPHIA - The second largest group of physicians in the United
States sees evidence that marijuana can relieve severe pain and
supports its medicinal use, according to a recently issued position paper.

This paper from the Philadelphia-based American College of Physicians
urges the federal government to acknowledge and sanction research
into the plant's medicinal uses.

The federal government currently classifies marijuana as a drug with
"no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States,
and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance
under medical supervision," according to the Office of National Drug
Control Policy's Web site.

But a 1999 Institute of Medicine study -- conducted at the ONDCP's
behest -- found that "scientific studies support medical use of
marijuana for treatment in the United States."

The ACP paper "builds very substantially on that report," said ACP
President David Dale. "We're just supporting good science."

In light of marijuana's scientifically demonstrated therapeutic
properties, the ACP paper urges the government to reclassify the plant.

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, lauded the ACP.

"They are pointing out some very important problems with government
policy that have long needed to be pointed out," he said. "The
federal government has essentially been lying to us."

Twelve states already allow marijuana to be used medicinally, and the
ACP paper further advocates that the federal government not penalize
physicians who prescribe medical marijuana -- or patients who use it
- -- as their state permits.

Many potential medicinal uses of cannabinoids, the chemical compounds
that make up marijuana, may be yet undiscovered, according to the ACP
paper. However, the authors say, research is often hampered by the
federal government's refusal to acknowledge the medicinal properties
of marijuana.

"Drug discovery is a very important part of modern society," Dale said.

Mirken agreed and added that scientists have already deemed marijuana
a safe and effective pain reliever.

"So the ACP is asking the 21st-century questions, while our
government is stuck in 1937," he said.

The ACP paper also calls for more research into the best dosage and
mode of ingesting the herb, "for conditions where the efficacy of
marijuana has been established."

Those conditions include loss of appetite, nausea, convulsions and
extreme nerve pain - the kind suffered by victims of AIDS and
multiple sclerosis.

According to Mirken, nerve pain is particularly resistant to the
existing legal pain relievers. Those options "don't work for
everybody, and they don't work for every condition," he said.

The ONDCP, which has been critical of the ACP paper, did not return
repeated calls for comment for this article.