THE HUMANE APPROACH

MARIJUANA APPEARS to have substantial medical benefits for people with
cancer or AIDS. The influential Institute of Medicine wisely called
this week for more extensive scientific trials to determine how best
to use it.

This is a moderate and cautious approach on a subject that arouses
considerable heat and often too little light.

Drug abuse has a detrimental impact on American society. But so does
serious illness.

The medical benefits of marijuana are not news. As far back as 1982,
the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of
Sciences, concluded that the active ingredients in marijuana could
have positive impacts on the seriously ill and should be studied.

Unfortunately, marijuana is a stepping stone to other serious and
addictive drugs. Researchers have been reluctant to do the amount of
study that's necessary.

But this new report, from a credible government institution, could
help change perceptions. If marijuana can be shown to help the
seriously ill live better lives, it should be made available to them
in a controlled setting. In other words, administer the drug under a
doctor's supervision.

The U.S. government currently provides free marijuana cigarettes to
eight participants in a program approved by the National Institute on
Drug Abuse and the Food and Drug Administration. The marijuana helps
these patients manage pain, nausea and other symptoms.

If there are others who could benefit from the drug, then it should be
made available to them, under the same limits and controls put on
other substances that can be misused.

All drugs are susceptible to misuse. But they also have proved to be
medically beneficial when administered responsibly. Marijuana, an
illegal substance, can have the same value.

Certainly, the illegal use of marijuana cannot be condoned. However,
scientific studies of its medical use should go forward. If its value
stands up to scrutiny, then the humane response is to make marijuana
accessible to those who will benefit.