MEDICAL MARIJUANA GETS NOD

U.S. Report Says Drug Is Effective In Treatment Of Aids, Cancer Patients

Washington. A U.S. - commissioned report strongly backed certain
medical uses of marijuana, declaring that for some people with serious
diseases such as AIDS and cancer, it may be one of the most effective
treatments available.

The widely anticipated report by the independent Institute of Mecicine
was commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy and could spark a reassessment of the decades-long U.S. drive
to ban almost all marijuana use.

"We uncovered an explosion of new scientific knowledge about how the
active components in marijuana affect the body and in how they might
be used in a medical context," Dr.John Benson, one of the principal
investigators for the report, told a news conference.

Supporters of the medical marijuana movement declared the report an
unequivocal victory.

Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights, said the
findings would radically rework the public image of what has long been
one of the United States' most demonized drugs.

"They are in effect saying that most of what the government has told
us about marijuana is false. It's not a gateway to heroin and cocaine
it has legitimate 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."

The study, the product of more than 18 months of research, highlighted
concerns over marijuana, noting that the common practice of smoking
the drug was medically dangerous.

But it also declared that marijuana was not particularly addictive and
did not appear to lead to the use of harder drugs.

For some patients with severe AIDS or cancer symptoms such as nausea,
wasting, and lack of appetite, marijuana-even in its smoked form-
appears to have benefits that outweigh its risks, the investigators
said.

"Smoked marijuana should not generally be recommended for long-term
medical use," the report said. "Nonetheless, for certain patients such
as the terminally ill or those wiith debilitating symptoms, the
long-term risks are not of great concern.

Authors of the report sought to sidestep the political issue of
medical marijuana, noting repeatedly that their mandate was simply to
assess the effectiveness of cannabinoid drugs such as THC, marijuana's
main active element.

There is only one U.S. government-approved symthetic cannabinoid pill
Marinol. Marijuana proponents argue that the pill is not as effective
as the raw plant.

The institute report stressed new research should aim to design a "non
smoked, rapid onset" delivery system which could mimic the speedy
action of a smoked marijuana cigarette.

We prefer to move away from the plant," said another principal
investigator

Dr.Stanley Watson. "From the point of view of safety we are quite
concerned about it."

But the report's authors also noted that some desperately ill patients
may not want to wait the years it would take to develop a safe
alternative such as cannabinoid "inhaler". To help these patients,
the report suggested that doctors be allowed to launch clinical
studies of marijuana, telling each test subject the risks and rewards
of smoking the drug.

In 1996, California passed an initiative aimed at allowing patients
with AIDS, cancer, and other serious diseases to use the drug.

While federal authorities have used their power to block
implementation of the California measure, voters in six more states
passed similar bills in 1998- adding pressure on the Food and Drug
Administration to consider removing marijuana from the list of the
most dangerous narcotics.

"We will carefully study the recommendations and conclusions contained
in this report," the Office of National Drug Control Policy said in a
statement.