MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE

State and federal laws should be changed to allow use of this drug to
ease suffering.

After years of fighting with no cease-fire in sight, perhaps a
settlement of the 1960s marijuana wars finally can be negotiated.

The prize would be the chance to do serious, long-term scientific
research into marijuana's effectiveness as a medical drug. It also
would aid some of the nation's most helplessly ill: terminal cancer
patients.

To achieve those goals, Americans must acknowledge that a drug
demonized by some as emblematic of wanton drug use and moral
degeneracy is - while not the equivalent of aspirin - not exactly a
pipeline to crack cocaine, either.

An avenue to a new dialogue was paved last month by "Marijuana and
Medicine," a report by the National Academy of Science's Institute of
Medicine. They're legit, not hopheads.

First, consider the institute's conclusions on what can be called the
"cultural" issues.

Marijuana is not particularly addictive, and withdrawal systems
"appear to be mild" compared to commonly prescribed drugs like Valium
and Xanax.

Much has been made of marijuana as a "gateway" drug that leads to hard
drugs and addiction. That's not what the evidence proves. "Most drug
users begin with alcohol and nicotine," not marijuana, says the report.

Plus, here's a rarely discussed truth: The nation's unprecedented
technological boom and economic expansion is being fueled today by
millions of baby boomers who once did, indeed, inhale. They later went
into business, not cocaine and heroin.

None of which is to suggest that marijuana should be legalized simply
for the purpose of getting high. Rather, state and federal laws should
be changed to permit marijuana use where it has been shown to
alleviate the suffering of those with fatal or near-fatal diseases.

Two specific instances where it makes good sense: for terminal cancer
patients and AIDS-related illness. Marijuana demonstrates therapeutic
value for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite
stimulation.

In instances where marijuana will be the best drug for a particular
patient, doctors should be free to prescribe it from government stockpiles.

For other potential uses, the government should launch serious medical
research into cannabinoids, the active ingredients in marijuana, of
which THC is the best known. Research with the plant's active extracts
would allow clinical testing of the drug at known strengths and known
formulations - crucial to determining whether they can indeed help
sufferers of diseases such as multiple sclerosis or glaucoma.

But that research will not occur until the law is changed to encourage
it and until the drug's cultural stigma is eliminated.

That is not as unlikely as it may appear. Voters in five Western
states have approved ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana for
medical use, a grassroots legislative tool not available in
Pennsylvania.

Even in those states, however, medical use has been stymied by local
legal issues and by federal law, which makes no significant allowance
for medical need.

In Harrisburg, the state Attorney General's Office reports there is no
sign of a legislative initiative to permit medical use, and the
attorney general himself, Mike Fisher, opposes any relaxation of the
drug laws.

All of which means Congress must step in to amend the nation's drug
laws to encourage thorough clinical testing of marijuana as medicine,
and to allow individuals to smoke the drug for limited medical use.