U.S. REPORT BACKS EASING OF RESTRICTIONS ON POT

Recommends Marijuana For The Seriously Ill

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

The widely anticipated report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) also
said there was no evidence marijuana use leads to harder drugs.

The report 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 effect 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.

The IOM study highlighted continued concerns over marijuana, noting
the common practice of smoking the drug was dangerous.

But for some patients with severe AIDS or cancer symptoms, 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 with 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 brief was simply to
assess the effectiveness of "cannabinoid" drugs such as THC,
marijuana's main active element.

The IOM 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.

But the report's authors noted that some desperately ill patients may
not want to wait the years it would take to develop a safe
alternative.

To help these patients, the report suggested that doctors be allowed
to launch clinical studies of marijuana.

In Canada, federal Health Minister Allan Rock this month authorized
clinical trials.

The U.S. report also declared marijuana did not appear to be a
"gateway" to the use of harder drugs.

In fact, it concludes, most drug users started by using tobacco and
alcohol.

White House anti-drugs "czar" Barry McCaffrey, who commissioned the
report in 1997, yesterday welcomed its findings but added the
government will continue to classify marijuana as illegal.