MARIJUANA CLAIMS

UCSD To Study Unproven Health Benefits

The unsubstantiated claims that marijuana has medicinal value are finally
going to receive a scientific hearing -- long after voters in California
and other states rashly approved the use of pot for medical purposes.
Researchers at UCSD are about to conduct studies to determine whether
marijuana can relieve pain and other symptoms associated with AIDS and
multiple sclerosis.

It's about time for some scientific facts on this issue.

No fewer than eight states have approved measures legalizing the use of
marijuana to treat health ailments. Under federal law, however, marijuana
remains a controlled substance, with a high potential for abuse. State and
federal law enforcement officers have shut down several cannabis buyers
clubs that are in violation of the law. California's medicinal marijuana
initiative did not legalize the sale, but rather only the possession, of
the drug. The U.S. Supreme Court is about to hear a case on the issue.

UCSD's state-financed center on cannabis research is ideally suited to
ascertain whether the drug has any therapeutic value and, if so, whether
the harmful health effects of smoking it outweigh the potential benefits.
Thus far, anecdotal evidence claiming marijuana's positive aspects has been
countered by government-funded studies examining its deleterious effects.
This will be the first time that pot-smoking patients will be subjected to
a strict scientific evaluation.

The irony, of course, is the timing.

This study should have been conducted long before 1996, when California
voters approved Proposition 215. This would have enabled voters to make a
rational decision based on scientific evidence.

Instead, the ballot initiative was approved, then state lawmakers finally
got around to earmarking the funds to establish a medicinal marijuana
research center at the University of California. Five years later,
researchers at UCSD are gearing up to study whether smoking the drug can
help relieve nerve pain experienced by AIDS patients.

Another study will assess whether pot smokers afflicted with multiple
sclerosis can benefit from the drug. Another study will look at how pot
smoking affects one's driving ability.

Although these studies have yet to be approved by the Food and Drug
Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the National
Institute on Drug Abuse, approval appears likely.

This page opposed Proposition 215 and has been critical of the chaotic
manner in which it has been implemented. The UCSD studies should help
resolve much of the confusion about the drug's alleged therapeutic effects.
If nothing else, this scientific examination should give policy-makers in
California and elsewhere a clearer path from which to proceed.