NEW MARIJUANA RESEARCH POLICY CRITICIZED

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) Stars, politicians and scientists Monday said new
federal guidelines for medical studies involving marijuana were too strict
and undercut scientific research, despite government efforts to ease
restrictions.

"The new federal guidelines would still place a much greater burden on
medical marijuana researchers than on drug companies," said Chuck Thomas,
head of the Marijuana Policy Project, which sent a petition to top health
officials Monday. "A growing coalition of health and medical groups,
doctors, scientists and members of Congress disagree with the Clinton
administration's claim that the door is wide open for research."

The Department of Health and Human Services has framed new policies,
effective Wednesday, aimed at easing current marijuana research
restrictions. But a star-studded group of critics, including 34 members of
Congress, actress Susan Sarandon, comedian Richard Pryor and all band
members of Hootie & The Blowfish, say federal policies are unnecessarily
blocking scientific research that could yield medical benefits to millions
of people.

Marijuana researchers typically want to allow test subjects to smoke
marijuana and study its medicinal qualities as a pain reliever and appetite
inducer for patients suffering chronic diseases such as cancer or AIDS. But
the government has tight controls for illegal substances sought for
scientific use. Researchers must have federal authorities approve the study
and issue the drug, a process that can be expensive and lengthy.

"The new federal guidelines are still too cumbersome, and they explicitly
reject the Institute of Medicine's recommendation to give patients
immediate legal access to marijuana through a federal compassionate-use
program," said Thomas. "If the Clinton administration does not promptly
modify its guidelines, we will continue to change laws on the state level."

Advocates of marijuana research want to streamline the federal process
involved in approving the illegal substance for studies. The latest
guidelines call for a series of lockstep government OKs by four federal
health agencies, the Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement
Agency, the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on
Drug Abuse. Marijuana research proponents say only the FDA needs to approve
a study before the government releases the illegal drug.

Critics of the new federal policies say the approval outside the FDA is
redundant and needlessly increases research costs by imposing additional
safety criteria not normally associated with other drug tests.

But U.S. officials say the new federal policies actually pave the way for
more research on the subject and answer calls by scientists for easier
access to government-controlled marijuana.

"The purpose of the new guidelines is to expand opportunities," said Alan
Leshner, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse, the only legal
source of marijuana in the United States. "We did it because we recognize
there is tremendous interest, and we want to expand opportunities to do
research."

Leshner said the various approvals a research proposal must undergo are
fair, given marijuana's illegal status. He said federal policies are
unlikely to change despite complaints.

"This is about as reasonable as it can get," he said.