A SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT MEDICAL POT

Advocates of marijuana as medicine were quick to seize upon last
week's report by the respected National Institute of Medicine as
vindication for their crusade.

But the report by the institute's panel of distinguished scientists is
no endorsement of pot smoking, even for medical use, except in very
limited and carefully controlled circumstances. In fact, the report's
findings suggest that Washington's own medical-marijuana law, passed
by voters last year, would be better if it were tightened
considerably.

Both sides in the medical marijuana debate can find things to cheer in
the conclusions of the two-year study commissioned by the Clinton
administration.

The report constitute's the first credible finding that smoked
marijuana can be justified in limited circumstances. "Scientific data
indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs,
primarily THC, for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting and
appetite stimulation," the report says.

But any such use, the report also says, should be used only as a last
resort by patients whose doctors have determined that no other
treatment is effective, only under close, clinically controlled
conditions, and for no more than six months. The report firmly debunks
the idea that pot smoking is helpful in treating the symptoms of glaucoma.

The pro-pot crowd will hail the finding that marijuana does not appear
to be a so-called "gateway" drug that tends to lead to use of more
dangerous and addictive drugs. Anti-drug crusaders should drop that
argument from their arsenal.

The report's overriding message is that much more research is needed,
particularly to develop safe and reliable pharmaceutical ways of
delivering the medical benefits of marijuana. Far better to develop an
aerosol inhaler, for example, than to rely on smoking pot, which the
report calls "a crude THC delivery system that also delivers harmful
substances."

For its part, the federal government should end its general stance of
implacable hostility to the idea that marijuana is of no medical
benefit whatever. This report says that is not true. There are very
limited circumstances in which physicians might justifiably prescribe
marijuana; the trick is to make sure state medical-marijuana laws
recognize those limits.