MEDICAL SUFFERING IS THE ISSUE

Its time for Congress and the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider the
use of marijuana for medical purposes, under the same careful restrictions
that apply to prescribing other risky and often addictive substances.

This week voters in Nevada enacted a constitutional amendment approving
medical marijuana, pending a second vote in two years. In Washington, voters
endorsed a measure to restrictively legalize medical marijuana, while in
Arizona voters reaffirmed their 1996 approval of medical marijuana. The
electorates in Alaska and Oregon also endorsed medical marijuana.

Two years ago California voters approved a medical marijuana initiative, one
this newspaper opposed because it was too loosely drawn but which did aim to
address the genuine needs of patients whose diseases or treatments produce
pain and nausea. Federal intervention stopped the California initiative from
being implemented, but public support for this form of therapy is plainly
growing.

We recognize there is no medical consensus about marijuana's therapeutic
value and that strong social concerns remain about legitimization of its
use. But as the New England Journal of Medicine noted last year, there is
clear evidence that for many seriously ill patients, marijuana can provide
"striking relief" from nausea, vomiting, pain and other "devastating
symptoms." In the light of this the federal government's continued
classification of marijuana as a drug with no clinical value is both
anachronistic and inhumane.

Morphine is a dangerous drug. But under proper controls, it has been of
inestimable help in easing suffering. If properly funded and carefully
controlled studies show that marijuana also has medical benefit for some
patients, federal law should respond by making it legal for prescribed
medical use--a far more restricted situation than what California voters
supported two years ago.

Checked-by: Don Beck