ANIMALS WILL SELF-ADMINISTER MARIJUANA, STUDY FINDS

US scientists have found that laboratory animals will self-administer
marijuana, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) said Monday.

The self-administration behavior in animals had already been demonstrated
for cocaine and heroin, and the new findings suggest "that marijuana has as
much potential for abuse as other drugs of abuse," according to researcher
Steven Goldberg.

The research was conducted on squirrel monkeys that had already been
exposed to cocaine and took it on their own by pressing a lever 10 times to
receive an intravenous injection, according to a NIDA statement.

At the start of the experiment, researchers substituted saline solution for
cocaine, and the monkeys stopped pressing the lever.

The saline solution was then replaced with a solution of
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the component of marijuana which
affects the brain.

"The animals resumed self-administration, rapidly pressing the lever to
obtain an average 30 injections of THC during each of a series of one-hour
sessions," a dose comparable to that obtained by a human smoking a single
marijuana cigarette, the statement said.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is part of the National Institutes of
Health of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

It supports more than 85 percent of the world's research on health aspects
of drug abuse and addiction, according to the statement.