IOWA HOLDS NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Under the Compassionate Care Program, multiple
sclerosis patient Barbara Douglass was one of 15 people in the country who
was chosen to receive medical marijuana.

The federal program was discontinued in 1992, but the pain Douglass feels in
her back and legs hasn't stopped. Neither has her use of marijuana.

``When the leg is just killing you, you rub it and rub it. Sometimes you rub
it so much and so hard you can bruise yourself,'' said Douglass, who
developed MS in 1988.

``The marijuana helps. It eases the pain and spasms. I believe smoking
marijuana helps me deal with the disease that I'm forced to deal with.''

Douglass, 43, carries a letter from her doctor stating that she participated
in the program and may continue using marijuana.

She'll have that letter with her Thursday when she travels to the University
of Iowa for a three-day conference on the therapeutic use of marijuana.

Billed as the first of its kind, organizers say the conference is being held
in response to a report last year by the Institute of Medicine. A report by
the federal advisory panel said marijuana can help fight pain and nausea and
should be tested further in scientific trials.

``If there can be some enlightenment, that would be wonderful,'' said
Melanie Dreher, dean of Iowa's College of Nursing and a former board member
of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

``I think that people need to know the whole picture of marijuana. That, in
fact, it's not just a recreational drug but has medicinal value.''

It is against federal law for doctors to prescribe the drug. Yet voters in
Alaska, Washington, California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Maine and the
District of Columbia have approved laws allowing doctors to recommend
marijuana use by patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma and other
conditions.

The Justice Department is challenging those laws.

Al Byrne Jr., cofounder of a group called Patients Out of Time, which asked
Iowa to hold the conference, said the government has to fight the laws
because ``if they give up their control and pass that control to the health
care community, then they're out of a job.''

Byrne says he smoked marijuana to relieve eye pressure from glaucoma. He
said his father also smoked it in the late 1960s -- under advice from his
doctor -- to relieve nausea and pain from liver cancer. He said his dad
bought the drug illegally off the street.

Douglass said she gets upset when asked if she gets high as a result of
smoking marijuana.

``Just think about it. There you are, you've got this disease and you need
something to relieve the pain. That's certainly not going to be a high,''
she said. ``We're a different group of people than those who smoke it for a
high.''

^------ On the Net:

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws:
http://www.natlnorml.org/

Patients Out of Time: http://www.medicalcannabis.com/

Department of Justice: http://www.usdoj.gov