COUNTY LOOKS FOR FEDERAL FUNDS FOR MARIJUANA TRIAL

San Mateo County officials are increasingly hopeful of gaining federal
approval for the nations first locally funded medicinal marijuana trial in
January.

Last month, a bipartisan group of 34 members of Congress sent a letter to
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala urging her to support
such projects.

"Medicinal marijuana research should proceed as expeditiously as possible,"
the letter said. Shalala's support could be critical in the county's
application to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which would approve
the study protocol and supply "research-grade" marijuana.

County health researchers are "confident that the protocol has a good
chance of being approved," county Supervisor Mike Nevin said in a recent
report to fellow board members.

For two years, the former San Francisco cop has been a leading advocate for
compassionate distribution of medicinal marijuana to people suffering from
AIDS, glaucoma, chronic pain and other serious ailments.

County public health doctors and consulting researchers had NIDA officials
critique a draft of the study protocol before submitting the final
application earlier this month. "We strongly believe that we've done
everything we've been asked to do," Nevin said.

He's also buoyed by congressional lobbying for medicinal studies. "We've
gotten a positive response out of Congress that we've never had before,"
Nevin said, crediting local Representative Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, for
spearheading support.

"(Eshoo) agrees with the San Mateo County leadership that medicinal
marijuana, when used in a responsible and appropriate manner, has an
important role in helping people," said her chief of staff, John Flaherty.

If approved, the county-funded $350,000 study on safety and benefits of
medicinal marijuana could begin almost immediately with an initial
60-patient clinical trial. Participants would be AIDS, or cancer patients
in the last six months of life who suffer from dramatic weight loss, nausea
and vomiting.

The marijuana used in the 12-week trial would be carefully monitored by
county doctors, with each patient receiving a seven-day, 21-cigarette
supply. To ensure scientific consistency, participants would be shown how
to meticulously smoke three daily cigarettes ("inhale for three seconds,
then hold their breath for five seconds and then exhale"), according to the
study protocol. They'll keep diaries of the marijuana's impact on their
appetites and moods and return leftover "cigarette ends" to confirm their
participation.