MEDICAL MARIJUANA SUPPORTERS ELATED

LOS ANGELES Supporters of using marijuana to ease patients'
pain say they have been handed an important weapon in their battle
with the federal government to legalize the drug: science.

"Vindication! We were right all the while," said Dennis Peron, a pro-
legalization advocate in San Francisco. "The science is there. Is the
political will there?"

The Institute of Medicine, an affiliate of the National Academy of
Sciences, said Wednesday that marijuana's active ingredients can ease
the pain, nausea and vomiting caused by cancer and AIDS.

The new analysis, which bolsters similar conclusions by the National
Institutes of Health, urged scientific trials and the development of a
standard way to safely use the drug, such as an inhaler.

Ballot measures approving marijuana for medicinal use have passed in
Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Still, the
drug remains banned by federal law and doctors are wary of prescribing
it, even in those states.

White House drug policy adviser Barry McCaffrey said federal law would
be unaffected by the study, although he acknowledged that authorities
still need to unravel conflicting state and federal laws.

The report said that because the chemicals in marijuana ease anxiety,
stimulate the appetite, ease pain and reduce nausea and vomiting, they
can be helpful for people undergoing chemotherapy and people with AIDS.

It also said there is no evidence that use of marijuana leads to other
drug use. The panel did warn that smoking marijuana can cause
respiratory disease.

Proponents of medical marijuana cheered the study's results and said
opponents will need to change.

"If they continue to cling to their arguments, then they begin to lose
their credibility," said Rand Martin, chief of staff for California
state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara.

Advocates say the Food and Drug Administration must reclassify
marijuana from Schedule I illegal drugs to Schedule II, drugs that
doctors can prescribe.

"Let us waste no more time in providing this medication through legal,
medical channels to all the patients whose lives may be saved," said
Daniel Zingale of AIDS Action.

Breaking ranks with the pro-medical marijuana groups was the National
Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, which condemned the report
as "tepid."

At the White House, spokesman Joe Lockhart said: "What we found out is
that there may be some chemical compounds in marijuana that are useful
in pain relief or anti-nausea, but that smoking marijuana is a crude
delivery system. So I think what this calls for ... is further research."

Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., who led the fight to get the U.S. House of
Representatives to condemn medical marijuana last fall, said he is
"deeply concerned" the report might encourage people to smoke marijuana.

Robert Maginnis, of the conservative Family Research Council, said
doctors have other medicines to treat any ailment that marijuana can
help.

"Providing good medicine not marijuana is the compassionate
response to patients' pain and illnesses," he said.