MARIJUANA RESEARCH HASN'T CREATED A BUZZ

Medicinal Cannabis Studies Are Going More Slowly Than Expected As The
State's Voters Back Stem Cell Work.

California voters' decision this month to pay for embryonic stem cell
research isn't the first time the state has stepped in to fill a
national funding void for controversial scientific studies. Five years
ago, the Legislature created the Center for Medicinal Cannabis
Research and promised $9 million in support over three years to find
out whether marijuana makes good medicine.

To date, researchers have reported little in the way of definitive
results. The studies have taken longer than expected to get under way,
and data still is being collected and crunched.

One clear accomplishment: The center has established enough
credibility to become a permanent entity - albeit one without firm
prospects for more money.

"I think the first thing is, we need to help (scientific)
investigators complete the studies they're doing," said Dr. Igor
Grant, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, San
Diego, and director of the cannabis research center.

"Based on that, if, for example, the investigators found no evidence
or extremely weak evidence that marijuana is helpful, I don't think
there's a basis to pursue funding for more research."

Anecdotes abound on the pain-killing and nausea-quelling properties of
the plant Cannabis sativa, commonly known as pot. California is among
10 states with laws allowing the use of mari juana as medicine.

The 1999 law creating the research center, authored by Sen. John
Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, was meant to support or disprove the
pot-as-medicine claims with hard data. If evidence shows marijuana to
be helpful, the center will seek money from federal sources such as
the National Institutes of Health, said Andrew Mattison, a center
co-director.

The federal government doesn't explicitly discourage research on
cannabis as medicine, but historically, scientists interested in such
studies have believed the research was unwelcome. As a Schedule I
drug, marijuana is considered by the national government to have no
medical benefit.

Dr. Barth Wilsey, a University of California, Davis, pain specialist,
said he had heard for years from patients who found relief by smoking
marijuana. But he didn't believe he could examine their experiences
scientifically. "There have been hindrances to doing this type of
work," Wilsey said.

Obtaining pot for research is difficult. The only legal source is a
small plot in Mississippi grown chiefly to supply the National
Institute on Drug Abuse for studies on the addictive and otherwise
harmful nature of the plant. This is where the California-funded
researchers get their supplies.

Those who manage to obtain the drug must follow strict rules for
handling and security.

Federal limits on embryonic stem cell research are more overt. Because
of moral concerns about destroying embryos, federal money is available
for studies using only select colonies of stem cells.

California's stem cell initiative makes lots of money available with
no such restrictions, and has brought on a gush of interest by
scientists at universities and private businesses alike. The cannabis
center, by comparison, did not inspire a rush to the field.

One reason might be that the pot of money is much smaller. The stem
cell program involves $3 billion in funding over 10 years. The
cannabis center received a total of $8.7 million. Put another way, for
every dollar spent by the state on cannabis research, the stem cell
effort will receive $345.

How that money will be distributed is a topic of hot discussion. The
state is in the process of appointing members of an oversight board
that will decide who gets stem cell grants.

The cannabis center created a scientific review board with 22 members,
19 from outside California.

Grant said the center deliberately tried to minimize the possibility
of conflicts of interest. "We didn't want there to be a feeling that
there was some kind of old boys' network (giving) an easy review," he
said.

Even with relatively modest funding, the center ended up with more
money than was requested by worthy grant applicants. Grant said 25
proposals were submitted and 18 approved. Those rejected were turned
away for lack of merit, not lack of money, he said.

Still, the potential for support did lure some scientists into the
field.

"Their existence encouraged me," said Wilsey, the UC Davis pain
doctor, who is studying how marijuana affects people with pain caused
by spinal-cord injury, stroke and other conditions.

In 2003, Vasconcellos proposed making the center permanent - though
without additional funding. The legislation passed.

The center has three staff members and about 600 square feet of space
in an office rental shared with a UCSD program in HIV research, Grant
said.

Although most research still is under way, center scientists have
published results from two studies suggesting cannabis or cannabinoids
- - chemicals derived from or similar to the active ingredients in
marijuana - could be good medicine. One study by UC San Francisco
involving rats found the drug useful for alleviating head and face
pain.

In the second analysis, Grant and collaborators reviewed a suite of
studies measuring cognitive impairment in adults who smoked marijuana.
They concluded that although the drug dampens learning and memory, the
effects are minimal - which suggests that, if used therapeutically,
cannabis could be safe.

Results from some studies have been delayed in part because of
difficulty recruiting human subjects.

One study designed to examine the interaction of cannabis with pain
medications known as opi oids in cancer patients was canceled for lack
of volunteers.

Another study on marijuana and multiple sclerosis lost volunteers who
found they couldn't handle smoking the drug, Grant said.

"I think the sort of common misconception is, 'Oh, they're doing a
marijuana study, people are going to be flocking,' " Grant said. "What
we forget is that our studies are aimed at sick people, and sick
people who have illnesses are very choosy about what they do."

Nevertheless, results eventually will be in, he promised: "Whatever
happens, within a couple of years, we will have completed the largest
group of therapeutic trials on smoked cannabis that's ever been done,
and there ought to be some answers."

[sidebar]

CANNABIS STUDIES

These are among the studies that have been approved for funding by
California's Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research:

UC Davis:

* Cannabis for spasticity/tremor in multiple sclerosis, $352,621. *
Cannabis for pain, $297,887.

UC San Francisco:

* HIV-related peripheral neuropathy (nerve pain in the hands and
feet), $849,478. * Treating chemotherapy-induced nausea with
cannabinoids, $324,303.

UCLA:

* Cannabinoids' effect on fear, $173,482.

UC San Diego:

* Sleep and cannabis, $60,496. * Effect of repeated cannabis
treatments on ability to drive, $163,245. * Effects of cannabis on
immune system, $186,140. * Cannabis in cancer pain, $600,904.