REPORT CONCEDES POT HAS MEDICAL BENEFITS

Marijuana Study Also Warns Of Hazards

A White House report acknowledged yesterday that marijuana may have
medical benefits for patients with advanced forms of cancer or AIDS,
but also warned of serious health hazards from smoking the drug.

The report, commissioned by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of
the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, found no conclusive
evidence that marijuana leads to the abuse of drugs like heroin and
cocaine. Moreover, it found no evidence that the limited medical use
of marijuana would increase the public abuse of the drug.

"The real issue is the ability to separate medicinal use from
substance abuse," said Dr. Stanley J. Watson Jr., a research scientist
at the University of Michigan and co-director of the study.

Still, the report is likely to re-ignite the debate over medical
marijuana. Supporters have long argued that marijuana's therapeutic
benefits outweigh critics' fears that its use will inevitably lead to
abuse of hard drugs.

In fact, the report offers something for both sides.

Patient advocacy groups say it supports patients' right to keep
marijuana for relief of severe pain and nausea.

Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights, the sponsor
of six 1998 state marijuana initiatives, said: "They are in effect
saying that most of what the government has told us about marijuana
is false.

"It's not addictive, it's not a gateway to heroin and cocaine, it has
legitimate medical use, and it's not as dangerous as common drugs like
Prozac and Viagra," he said. "This is about as positive as you can
get."

Drug-control advocates say the report bolsters their contention that
it is the active ingredients of marijuana - not the plant itself -
that has medicinal qualities. They urge more research into harnessing
those compounds.

Mr. McCaffrey, who has long opposed relaxing marijuana laws, said the
government would support such research. His office highlighted the
report's conclusion: "If there is any future for marijuana as
medicine, it lies in its isolated components - the cannabinoids and
their synthetic derivatives."

In a statement, Mr. McCaffrey's office praised the report for its
thorough and careful analysis, and promised to study the report's
conclusions and recommendations.

Marijuana is used to treat diseases ranging from glaucoma to multiple
sclerosis, migraines and movement disorders like Parkinson's or
Huntington's disease.

The report found little data to show that the drug was an effective
treatment for those conditions. That is partly due to the lack of
formal scientific tests; the report therefore recommended that
rigorous tests be done to see how well marijuana performs on such diseases.

Marijuana does seem to be useful for treating cancer patients
suffering nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, or restoring the
appetites of AIDS patients suffering from nausea and weight loss.

But Dr. John A. Benson Jr., professor of medicine at the Oregon Health
Sciences University School of Medicine and the co-director of the
study, stressed: "Marijuana's potential as medicine is seriously
undermined by the fact that people smoke it, thereby increasing their
chance of cancer, lung damage, and problems with pregnancies."

The marijuana leaf contains more tar than tobacco, along with many
other potential cancer-causing agents, he said.

Dr. Watson proposed developing inhalers, like those used for asthma,
that would eliminate the need for smoking marijuana to get its
pain-relieving benefits.

BOX

THE SCIENCE OF MARIJUANA

An independent review of the latest science found that marijuana may
have potential medical uses, but that additional research is needed to
enhance its benefits. The report recommended that researchers:

* Investigate how marijuana's active ingredients affect the body, and
how the drugs are able to relieve pain, control nausea and vomiting,
and stimulate appetite in patients.

* Conduct clinical trials of cannabinoid drugs to test how well they
relieve symptoms, with the goal of developing quick, reliable and
potent systems for administering the drugs.

* Evaluate the drugs' psychological effects, such as euphoria, anxiety
reduction and sedation, to see whether they affect the perception of
medical benefits in patients.

* Study the individual health risks of smoking marijuana.

* Require that medical marijuana be approved by a medical review
board, and that it be given to patients for six months or less.

* Require that patient candidates have debilitating symptoms, such as
extreme pain, that are not relieved by standard drugs, and that they
be under careful medical supervision while taking marijuana.

Source: Institute of Medicine