MEDICAL MARIJUANA: WHAT DO YOU THINK?

IRVINEPeople who use marijuana as medicineor just folks with an
opinioncan sound off when scientists from across the nation convene here
in two weeks.

Investigators from the Institute of Medicine will hold
informationgathering sessions Dec. 1416 on whether marijuana has medical
uses and whether laws should allow it.

The sessions are the first of only three nationwide.

"These are public workshops," said Dan Quinn, spokesman for the institute
in Washington, D.C. "The first session will be open to anyone who wants to
talk."

Orange County's crusader for legalizing medical marijuana, Anna T Boyce,
plans to speak.

Boyce said she felt like a criminal when she sneaked pot to her late
husband, who was dying of cancer, to ease his chemotherapyinduced nausea.

"The goal of this study is to finally get a a comprehensive assessment of
the benefits and risks of marijuana," she said. "It's about time."

Public input is slated for 3 to 5 p.m. Dec. 14 at the Arnold and Mabel
Beckman Center, 100 Academy Drive. People are asked to register first. That
can be done online at http://www2.nas.edu/medicalmj, or by calling (202)
3341805.

The study come in the wake of California's Proposition 215 and Arizona's
Proposition 200, which legalize medicinal use of marijuana. Both contradict
federal drug law.

The Institute of Medicine is a private, nonprofit organization that
provides healthpolicy advice to the government as a component of the
National Academy of Sciences. Its report is due in December 1998.