PIONEER 'POT' PROGRAM SHOULD BE REINSTATED

State Department of Health secretary Alex Valdez is encouraged to continue
taking steps toward reinstating the medical marijuana program established
by the New Mexico Legislature in 1978, but which hasn't been funded since
1986.

Last summer, Valdez asked the Drug Enforcement Administration what
federal requirements the state needed to fulfill to reinstate the
program, and says he received a reply this past week. It appears his
request was prompted by threat of a class-action lawsuit demanding
that the program be reinstated, spearheaded by University of New
Mexico nurse and potential plaintiff Bryan Krumm. Krumm said advocates
delayed filing a suit because Valdez told them he would move to
restore the program.

But it appears Valdez is still extremely cautious. Spending for the Lynn
Pierson therapeutic research program, he said, would not be a priority in
his budget request for the next fiscal year. "I have to think about how to
proceed with this," Valdez said.

According to Krumm, Valdez also said he would like to see
interest from more than one person before proceeding. Krumm claims
about 30 people were willing to serve as plaintiffs in the potential
lawsuit. But numbers should not decide whether the program merits
reinstatment. New Mexico showed compassion and foresight when in 1978
it became the first state to initiate a program in which patients
could use marijuana to ease eye pressure in glaucoma cases and the
nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. Results of the
program's brief tenure, involving more than 200 New Mexico patients,
provided pioneering research into marijuana's medical benefits, much
of which was corroborated by a federal study earlier this year. In
some of the New Mexico cases, the drug's use extended the lives of
patients by enabling them to endure chemotherapy's devastating side
effects. And New Mexico's law leaves the door open for a review board
to broaden use to other medical conditions.

Reinstatement of New Mexico's program -- named for a 26-year-old business
student and cancer patient who successfully lobbied for the medical option --
could result in further pioneering research into use of the drug,
including benefits of alternative delivery systems for Marinol, the
synthetic derivative. The program could provide immediate benefits for
patients who, in consultation with their physicians, view this
too-tightly controlled medical resource as a source of relief.