MARIJUANA BATTLE

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to enjoin the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative from dispensing its wares marks the latest setback for
California voters who long ago wanted to get medicinal marijuana in the
hands of critically ill patients.

It also underscores the dilemma that has existed since 56 percent of state
voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996. As long as the federal government
continues to regard marijuana as a "Schedule I" controlled substance with
the likes of heroin and LSD, efforts to forge compromise deals to get
medicinal pot to those who need it will be vulnerable to such 11th-hour
federal blitzing.

Here's the problem. Schedule I drugs are identified as having "no currently
accepted medical use in treatment. . ." While studies and extensive
anecdotal evidence suggest otherwise, this remains federal policy -- one
vigorously defended by the Clinton administration -- and will continue to be
a primary stumbling block.

Yet there is hope to suggest that change is on the horizon -- not in
courtrooms or Congress but in research labs. Earlier this summer, UCSF
professor of medicine Donald Abrams reported on the initial findings of the
first federally approved safety study of smoked marijuana. He found that 20
AIDS patients who smoked pot for three weeks ate better and gained nearly 8
pounds on average -- much more than patients who smoked a placebo.

This comes on the heels of a National Institutes of Health report that found
medical marijuana to be effective in treating loss of appetite.

And then more encouraging news. On the same day of the U.S. Supreme Court
decision, physicians at the University of California announced the formation
of a research center to study the medical uses and effects of marijuana. The
center, to be based in San Diego and supported with $3 million in state
funds, will be conducting extensive studies into the effect of smoked
marijuana in combating the side effects of chemotherapy and AIDs treatments.

Proving that marijuana has medical benefits seems redundant given the weight
of existing empirical data. But if it helps in presenting irrefutable
evidence for reducing marijuana to a Schedule II prescriptive drug, so be
it.

The question at that point becomes whether Washington officials will have
the courage to follow through with the information and call off the dogs.