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: Rich O'Grady