WHEN TO ALLOW MARIJUANA

The newly released study on the medical use of marijuana will not settle the
question of whether it should be permitted. If anything, the report will
merely permit both sides in the controversy to sharpen their knives. But in
the long run, it will lift the quality of the debate by providing some badly
needed facts. And the facts ultimately favor allowing compassionate use.

The report, by a panel of independent experts at the Institute of Medicine,
was commissioned by the government, and is the most comprehensive review so
far of the medical literature on marijuana. The panel found that marijuana
helps relieve the pain, nausea and weight loss associated with AIDS. It also
helps subdue the muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.

However, despite anecdotal reports to the contrary, it is only minimally
useful in relieving symptoms of glaucoma. Perhaps the most startling
finding: Marijuana is not a ``gateway drug,'' encouraging users to move on
to more harmful substances.

Aside from the disappointing news on glaucoma, all of the above supports
those who favor legalizing marijuana for medical use. But the panel also
found drawbacks to the drug. In terms of causing cancer, lung damage and
problems in pregnancy, smoking marijuana is worse than smoking tobacco.
Thus, the panel said, marijuana's benefits have to be weighed against its
substantial liabilities: The drug could not be wholeheartedly recommended
until other ways of delivering its active ingredients are found.

Backers of legalization will correctly argue that often, particularly in
cases of terminal illness, the benefits outweigh the harms; the same
reasoning today permits medical use of morphine. But this argument will fall
on deaf ears. The Clinton administration is continuing to oppose the medical
use of marijuana; the Department of Health and Human Services will keep
funding research on the issue.

Nevertheless, the latest report chips away at the wall; a new administration
could decide differently. It is past time to permit limited use of marijuana
by doctors for people whose suffering it could ease. But sadly, such people
still appear to be in for a long wait. And time generally is not on their side.