MARIJUANA RESEARCH RULES LOOSENED

Responding to pressure from scientists and voters, the Clinton
administration loosened restraints yesterday on medical marijuana research.
The move is expected to prompt more studies to see whether the drug helps
people with AIDS, cancer or eye disease.

Scientists with private grants will be able to get legal marijuana from the
government's supply -- grown on a small plot in Mississippi to make sure
it's all the same strength. Previously, only scientists who had won federal
grants had access to that marijuana. And only a few such federal studies
have been approved.

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