STATE ASSOCIATION OPPOSES USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

As advocates push for a ballot item, one official questions if there's
enough proof of marijuana's benefits.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Medical Association opposes the use of marijuana
for medical reasons until there is scientific evidence it helps patients.

Larry Matheis, executive director of the association, said Wednesday there
are prescription drugs available now that alleviate the medical problems
that marijuana is said to improve.

Americans for Medical Rights filed petitions Tuesday signed by 70,155
Nevadans who want to vote in November to allow doctors to prescribe
marijuana for sick people.

"We obviously can't support the proposal," Matheis said. "There simply are
better prescription drugs available."

But the medical rights organization believes marijuana can help people with
cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and other ailments, and handle
nausea, vomiting, chemotherapy and appetite loss.

Matheis, however, questions whether there is enough evidence of marijuana's
benefits.

"There may be valid uses for marijuana, but there also are better
alternatives already available," he added.

Pharmaceutical companies even have developed a synthetic prescription drug,
Marinol, that contains the active ingredient in marijuana.

Nonetheless, Portland, Ore., physician Rick Bayer said some patients are
unable to use the available prescription drugs, particularly because they
are taken orally.

"If patients have nausea and are vomiting, they can't use Marinol," said
Bayer, who is pushing for a marijuana initiative to appear on Oregon's
ballot this year. "They must inhale their medication. For them, marijuana
may be the best medication. We don't think these patients should be rounded
and put in jail."

Bayer said the opposition to medical marijuana largely comes from
pharmaceutical companies, such as Roxane Laboratories, the manufacturer of
Marinol.

By smoking marijuana, patients also can control the dosage they receive,
something they cannot do with the current prescription drugs, according to
Bayer.

"Patients don't want to get high," he said. "They want to take as little as
possible."

Within the next couple of weeks, Secretary of State Dean Heller will
determine if Americans for Medical Rights gathered enough valid signatures
to place the proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot. County election workers first
must count the signatures and then do sample checks to determine if enough
are valid.

The proposition needs at least 46,764 valid signatures to qualify. A minimum
number of signatures must be found valid in all of the 13 Nevada counties
where they were gathered.

The proposal would require approval of voters this November and again in the
year 2000 before doctors could prescribe marijuana.

Matheis said during the election campaign season the Medical Association
will serve as an information resource on marijuana. Doctors will be
available to express their views.

He added that Nevada doctors passed a resolution that called for scientific
studies to determine whether marijuana should be used for medical reasons.
Before such tests are completed, he said the doctors would oppose the use of
marijuana for medical purposes.

Bayer, on the other hand, said several tests have shown that marijuana is a
more effective drug for nausea and chemotherapy for some patients.

"You should look at it from the patient standpoint," he said. "He can't
tolerate the first three drugs you gave him. It would make sense to have
further choices available."

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett