DOCTORS NEUTRAL ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA, OPPOSE ABORTION MEASURE

GLENEDEN BEACH, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Medical Association, the state's
largest doctors' group, has decided not to take a stand on a ballot measure
that would legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

But the doctors, voting Sunday at a convention at Salishan Lodge, were
nearly unanimous in their opposition to a measure that would ban abortions
after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

OMA members also voted to expand efforts to report men in their 20s who
impregnate young teen-age girls, and to fight any requirement that assisted
suicide be listed on prescription forms for terminally ill patients
requesting a lethal dosage.

The OMA's house of delegates, its governing body, took the vote after
debating the issues at their annual meeting over the weekend. The
association represents 5,800 of the state's 8,300 physicians.

The association had considered a resolution opposing ``any measure that
would decriminalize marijuana, including the initiative petition currently
being advanced for the medical use of this substance.''

But they voted Sunday to change the resolution wording to say the
association will ``not support'' the measure.

Dr. Richard Bayer, a Portland internist and a chief petitioner for the
marijuana initiative, said the association's action was a ``win for the
citizens of Oregon ... and for the OMA, because the OMA made a wise and
compassionate decision.''

Bayer said he has seen plenty of evidence that smoking marijuana relieves
nausea caused by chemotherapy and some symptoms of pain, and it is
effective in fighting weight loss in AIDS patients. Although a prescription
drug containing an active ingredient of marijuana is available, Bayer said
it sometimes isn't as effective as smoked marijuana.

Dr. Charles E. Hofmann of Baker, past president of the OMA, had urged the
group to adopt an American Medical Association report recommending a ban on
medical use of marijuana until experiments have proven its usefulness.

James Kronenberg, associate executive director of the state association,
said the OMA's neutrality could affect the outcome of the election.

Kronenberg said the vote of neutrality is reminiscent of the neutral stand
taken by the doctors' group about the physician-assisted suicide measure in
1994.

``Both proponents and opponents say the OMA's neutrality was a large part
of the measure's passage,'' he said.

Some physicians oppose legalization of medical marijuana because they say
it could open the door to unscientific medical practices.

``If demand dictates what we use, it will expand into other areas,
including alternative medicines,'' said Dr. Kathleen Weaver, medical
director for the Oregon Health Plan.

She urged OMA members to wait until studies prove that marijuana is safe
and effective.

The American Medical Association, of which the state association is an
affiliate, opposed both physician-assisted suicide and the legalization of
medical marijuana.

Dr. Zena I.P. Monji, a Eugene obstetrician-gynecologist, testified on
Saturday that the proposed abortion ban would make it virtually impossible
to terminate pregnancies in cases where tests indicated birth defects such
as Down syndrome. Such tests cannot be performed until after 12 weeks of
pregnancy, she said.

The resolution is in keeping with the association's established policy to
protect access to abortion.

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