U.S. PLANS TO MAKE RESEARCH MARIJUANA AVAILABLE

WASHINGTON - In a major policy reversal, the Clinton administration
announced today it will release its hold on research-quality marijuana and
make it available to scientists who want to study its medical effects.

For more than 20 years, the production and distribution of marijuana for
clinical research has been restricted under several federal laws and
international agreements, making it all but impossible for non-federally
funded researchers to obtain it.

Scientists must go through a cumbersome and often bureaucratic process to
get it, which few have successfully attempted.

The policy was originally established to ensure uniform quality standards
for marijuana used in research, and was generally supported. However, the
substance then became extremely difficult for researchers to obtain.

Under the new policy, which loosens these restrictions, private researchers,
including physicians, will be allowed to purchase and use it for studies. A
senior administration official said the change could "open the door" to a
flood of research proposals and studies.

The issue has been the subject of intense national debate and political
pressure. Advocates insist that the laws forbidding the medical uses of
marijuana are cruel and inhumane; opponents argue that sanctioning marijuana
for any purposes only gives a green light to illegal drug use and would
further encourage it.

In March, the Institute of Medicine released a report saying marijuana did
have medicinal benefits - that it eases pain and quells nausea in cancer
patients. But the National Academy of Sciences study group called for more
research, in part to explore alternatives to smoking pot, such as perfecting
it in pill form.

Contradicting administration policy that marijuana has no medical value and
can lead to using harder drugs, the panel of experts found that marijuana
was not addictive and said there was no clear evidence that smoking it leads
to consumption of heroin, cocaine or other narcotics.

The news of a shift in administration policy was welcomed by
medical-marijuana advocates who have been clamoring for more research.

"For the last 22 years, the federal government has had a lock on the use of
whole smoked marijuana for studies - they grow it at the University of
Mississippi . . . and activists and reformers and legitimate scientists have
wanted to have access to it to conduct studies, and have had no luck," said
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation.

A senior administration official said the change was supported by Gen. Barry
McCaffrey, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy - who has in
the past opposed the medical uses of marijuana - and predicted that the
accessibility would "increase the likelihood that we finally get
honest-to-God scientific answers on this very important issue."

The Department of Health and Human Services, in a document laying out the
new policy, said it intended "to facilitate the research needed to evaluate
these pending public-health questions by making research-grade marijuana
available."