AIDS GROUPS ISSUE FIRST CALL FOR DRUG CZAR TO APPROVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ON
FAST TRACK FOR PEOPLE WITH AIDS

Unprecedented Statement Comes as Institute of Medicine Prepares to Publish
Full Review of Medical Marijuana Science

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Physicians should be allowed to
prescribe marijuana as an emergency measure to people with HIV/AIDS without
further research, says a letter to be sent February 17th from the heads of
seventeen AIDS organizations to General Barry McCaffrey, director of the
Office for National Drug Control Policy. This is the first time that AIDS
groups have come together to call for legal, immediate access to marijuana.

Citing a fast-track system that has allowed physicians to prescribe protease
inhibitors and other AIDS medications before the completion of clinical
trials, the letter calls on McCaffrey to give immediate approval to what
they say is another life-saving drug -- marijuana.

"We urge you to help break the bureaucratic logjam that is keeping a
potentially life-saving medicine, marijuana, virtually inaccessible to
thousands of people living with AIDS," says the letter, signed by AIDS
Action Council, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Latino Commission on AIDS,
National Native American AIDS Prevention Center, AIDS National Interfaith
Network, Mothers' Voices to End AIDS, AIDS Project Los Angeles, and other
organizations around the country.

Copies of the letter were also sent to the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, the Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Office
of National AIDS Policy and the U.S. House and Senate Majority and Minority
leaders.

The AIDS organizations are urging McCaffrey to make good on an October, 1997
statement to Congress, which said: "If sound medical research demonstrates
that there are medical uses for smoked marijuana, there are appropriate and
responsive procedures for rescheduling this mind-influencing drug through
the time-tested process.

"The FDA has already demonstrated flexibility in accelerating procedures for
allowing the use of emerging AIDS-related drugs without jeopardizing science
or the public health."

Thousands of Americans with HIV/AIDS use marijuana to relieve the nausea
caused by multiple-drug therapies, and to combat the "wasting syndrome"
associated with the late, often fatal, stages of AIDS by stimulating
appetite. But, with marijuana classed as a highly-controlled Schedule I
substance under federal law, most patients use the medicine illegally,
risking prosecution and exposure to contaminated products.

Recent studies and editorials in prestigious scientific journals Lancet, New
Scientist, New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American
Medical Association have concluded that marijuana's medical benefits
outweigh its risks. Convinced by existing research, Britain and Israel
recently sanctioned the compassionate use of marijuana on a provisional
basis, and six U.S. states have passed ballot initiatives to legalize
medical marijuana -- throwing state policies into conflict with federal law.

In 1996, McCaffrey commissioned the Institute of Medicine at the National
Academy of Sciences to conduct a full review of the science surrounding
medical marijuana. That study is expected to be released next month, and may
lead to calls for new research into medical marijuana. Just one clinical
trial has been approved by the federal government since 1985.

AIDS organizations say terminally-ill patients cannot afford to wait for
years of research to prove something they already know: medical marijuana
works.

"Science and compassion should dictate our nation's policy regarding medical
treatment," says the letter. "However, politics has stood in the way of the
approval of marijuana as a legal medication, and the full development of a
science base leading to FDA approval could still be years away.

"Under these circumstances, making marijuana immediately available on a
quasi-experimental basis to people living with AIDS [...], is a moderate
step that can add to the federal government's responsiveness to the
epidemic."

(The full text of the letter follows:)

February 17, 1999

General Barry McCaffrey

Director

Office of National Drug Control Policy

Dear General McCaffrey;

As advocates and care givers for people living with HIV disease and AIDS, we
are writing to urge you to help break the bureaucratic logjam that is
keeping a potentially life-saving medicine virtually inaccessible to
thousands of people living with AIDS and other debilitating illnesses.

That medicine is marijuana. Marijuana's therapeutic uses are well documented
in scientific literature. Recent scientific studies have confirmed what has
been reported to us by hundreds of people living with HIV -- that marijuana
can be safely used to reduce nausea and vomiting, stimulate appetite, and
promote weight gain. Marijuana is widely recognized by physicians
specializing in AIDS care as an important component of treatment for some
patients who suffer from symptoms of advanced-stage HIV disease and the
multiple-drug therapies used to manage HIV.

Today, thanks to one federally approved clinical study of marijuana for
people living with AIDS, sixty-four patients receive marijuana legally from
supplies grown by the federal government. However, thousands of Americans,
many of them people living with HIV, use marijuana as a medicine illegally,
putting themselves at risk of arrest and prosecution. Because the practice
is illegal, most patients use marijuana without medical supervision.
Marijuana's illegality means that patients cannot be sure of obtaining
standardized products that are free of contaminants. People should not have
to risk their health or jail to receive needed medical care.

For this reason, thirty-five state legislatures have passed laws supporting
the use of marijuana as a medicine. In addition, voters in six states
(Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) and the
District of Columbia have recently approved ballot measures legalizing the
medical use of marijuana within their borders -- nearly one in five
Americans lives in a state whose voters have approved medical marijuana.
Now, the nation is looking to the federal government to begin to show
compassion and flexibility on this issue.

You may be aware that the standard Food and Drug Administration approval
process has been streamlined for several medications important to people
living with HIV disease and AIDS. Drugs shown to fall within an acceptable
standard of safety have been made available to patients before completion of
all scientific trials proving effectiveness. This special procedure has
helped thousands of patients to obtain life-extending benefits from new
medications, and has contributed directly to building the science base for
such new drugs.

Our request is simple. Just as other promising AIDS medications have been
made available prior to final FDA approval, so too should marijuana, when
recommended by a physician, be made available to patients who choose to use
it.

There is not much question about the relative safety of marijuana -- it has
been heavily studied around the world. These studies have revealed an
important fact: there is no lethal dose of marijuana. Besides this finding,
occasional marijuana smoking under controlled circumstances has not been
proved to be dangerous. In sum, the known risks of marijuana are clearly
within a range of acceptability sufficient to allow individual physicians
and patients to monitor its use, and its results. Under these circumstances,
making marijuana immediately available on a quasi-experimental basis to
people living with AIDS, when their physicians request it, is a moderate
step that can add to the federal government's responsiveness to the
epidemic.

We appeal to you, General McCaffrey, because you are in a unique position to
provide leadership on this issue. Science and compassion should dictate our
nation's policy regarding medical treatment. However, politics has stood in
the way of the approval of marijuana as a legal medication, and the full
development of a science base leading to FDA approval could still be years
away. We call upon you to be a part of the political solution. We ask that
you publicly encourage your colleagues in the administration to respond
positively to the scientific and public support for making marijuana
medically available.

Sincerely,

cc: Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services* Jane Henney,
director, Food and Drug Administration* Sandra Thurman, director, Office of
National AIDS Policy* Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) Senate Majority Leader* Sen.
Tom Daschle (D-SD) Senate Minority Leader* Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL),
Speaker of the House* Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) House Majority Leader Rep.
Richard Gephardt (D-MO) House Minority Leader
SIGNATORIES * Daniel Zingale/Jeff Jacobs Executive Director/Legislative
Director AIDS Action Council * Regina Aragon Public Policy Director San
Francisco AIDS Foundation * Herb K. Schultz Director of Government Affairs
AIDS Project Los Angeles * Martin Ornelas-Quintero National Latina/o
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organization Washington, DC * Julian
B. Rush United Methodist Minister / Colorado AIDS Project Denver, CO * Mary
Margaret Bush Executive Director The Center for AIDS Services Oakland, CA *
Donna Rae Palmer Executive Director Mobilization Against AIDS San Francisco,
CA * Matt Patrick Executive Director Boulder County AIDS Project Boulder, CO
* Kenneth T. South Executive Director AIDS National Interfaith Network
Washington, D.C. * Ron Rowell Executive Director National Native American
AIDS Prevention Center Oakland, CA * Chris Norwood Health Force: Women and
Men Against AIDS Bronx, NY * Dennis de Leon Latino Commission on AIDS New
York, NY * David E. Munar Director of Public Policy AIDS Foundation of
Chicago Chicago, IL * Trish Moyan Torruella Executive Director Mothers
Voices to End AIDS New York, NY * Dr. Pat Hawkins Associate Executive
Director Whitman-Walker Clinic Washington, DC * Steven B. Johnson Director
of Public Policy and Communications Northwest AIDS Foundation Seattle, WA *
Mark D. Garvey Being Alive Program Specialist AIDS Project Arizona Phoenix
AZ * Lupe Lopez Executive Director People of Color Against AIDS Network
Seattle, WA CONTACT: Rachel Swain, Senior Publicist of Communication Works,
415-255-1946.