MEDICAL MARIJUANA GETS A GOOD REPORT FROM STUDY

The Clinton administration wishes the long-awaited report on the medical use
of marijuana would go up in smoke. So does the rest of politically sensitive
Washington.

The study, the most comprehensive to date, concluded that marijuana is
beneficial in treating pain, nausea and severe weight loss in AIDS and
cancer patients. It also may have therapeutic value for other illnesses.
Previous studies reached similar conclusions.

But don't expect Washington to embrace the findings. Medical marijuana is a
hot potato. Marijuana is outlawed under the federal Controlled Substances
Act, and users can spend up to five years in federal prison.

No politician, including President Clinton ("I did not inhale"), wants to
seem soft on drugs. Unfortunately, the medical war against pain has gotten
entangled with the war on drugs.

The new report on medical marijuana is based on a two-year study by a panel
of scientists at the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy
of Sciences. It was commissioned by the White House after some states began
balloting voters about legalizing marijuana for medical use. Seven states -
North Carolina is not among them - permit it. But doctors are hesitant to
prescribe it because the federal government has threatened to prosecute them.

The new report warned that smoking marijuana could be harmful because the
smoke is toxic. Even so, it recommended smoking if other medications failed.
For now, Marinol, a synthetic form of marijuana, is the only pill available.
Many patients complain it is not effective. The scientists urged that
inhalers, patches and capsules be developed that will deliver marijuana
without harmful smoking.

The study demolished a favorite argument by the government: that condoning
medical marijuana for sick people will encourage the general public to think
drugs are acceptable and they'll even move on to hard drugs such as heroin
and cocaine. Not so, scientists said. Medical marijuana is not a "gateway" drug.

Washington has been two-faced on this issue for years. In the 1970s, the
federal government was impressed enough with earlier medical findings that
it established a "compassionate use" program for certain patients suffering
from cancer, multiple sclerosis and other diseases.

The government grows its pot crop in Mississippi, and marijuana cigarettes
are manufactured in North Carolina and shipped to patients elsewhere in the
nation. The politically sensitive program was closed to new patients in
1992. Today, eight patients are legally permitted to smoke
government-approved joints.

If the government sees medical benefits fit for these patients, why has it
turned a blind eye to others and legalized medical marijuana? The answer is
simple: Washington is thinking politics, not science.