LET'S CHILL OUT

Despite Pressure To Let Sick People Use Marijuana, Governments Are Wary

THE STRENGTH of President Clinton's revival at the ballot box last
week surprised everyone. But then, so did the number of votes cast in
favour of the drug Clinton famously never inhaled.

In Alaska, Nevada, Washington and Arizona, voters all approved ballot
paper motions asking that the smoking of marijuana should be made
legal for people with certain illnesses. And in Britain this week, an
inquiry launched by the House of Lords said that doctors should be
allowed to prescribe cannabis on a named-patient basis (see p 24). So
is the tide of opinion finally turning for the evil weed?

Not yet. The British government has not changed its view that
relaxing the law on prescribing marijuana will require rigorous
evidence of its effectiveness from clinical trials. Of course,
scientific studies, long stifled by both British and US governments,
should be carried out. But the Lords point out reasonably that
anecdotal evidence of its value in relieving the symptoms of multiple
sclerosis and other conditions argues for a more immediate,
compassionate approach.

The objection that prescription marijuana might end up being sold on
the black market seems implausible. Allowing doctors to prescribe
marijuana would actually make it easier to distinguish between medical
and recreational users. And as the report rightly points out, doctors
in Britain have been allowed to prescribe heroin for people in chronic
pain, yet there is no evidence that this heroin ends up on the black
market.

The biggest obstacles everywhere are political. In California, the
state voted in favour of legalising marijuana for certain illnesses
two years ago. And what happened? Federal law enforcers moved in to
close down the growers' clubs that sprang up to supply patients. The
US drugs tsar, Barry McCaffrey, continues to argue that the medical
use of marijuana will send the wrong message to teenagers and
encourage drug abuse.

In the US, proponents of medical marijuana are now full of talk about
a new era. And in Britain, the Lords report is being welcomed. But
there is a way to go before either country can really be rational
about the issue.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry