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Marijuana, Medicine and Politics PRESCRIPTION FOR
CONTROVERSY By Peggy Brown. STAFF WRITER

San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Keith Vines
made his reputation prosecuting the secondbiggest
marijuana bust in California history. "I have sent people
to prison for drug offenses," he said. Now, Vines publicly
admits to smoking marijuana not to get high, but to
relieve his pain. The 46yearold prosecutor, who has the
AIDS virus, smokes what Californians call " medical
marijuana. "

Three years ago, suffering from AIDS "wasting" syndrome,
the 6foot Vines became a skeletal 150 pounds; he could not
keep down any food. After legal medicines didn't work, his
doctor suggested trying medical marijuana. "It saved my
life," he said. Government Threatens Doctors

Despite similar stories from other seriously ill people,
medical marijuana has become one of the most controversial
topics of President Bill Clinton's new term. Federal
officials recently threatened a crackdown on doctors who
recommend the use of medical marijuana even after
California and Arizona made it legal.

"We're enormously concerned because of the potential for
increased drug abuse in those two states," said Clinton's
drug czar, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the
U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy. He said the
new laws send "a very mixed and confusing message to the
young," since marijuana, an illegal drug, is considered to
be a "gateway" to harder drugs. Clinton's critics say the
federal government is disregarding the will of voters who
want medical marijuana decriminalized.

And they say federal officials are bullying patients and
their doctors.

"I believe that a federal policy that prohibits
physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing
marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided,
heavyhanded and inhumane," Dr. Jerome P. Kassirer, editor
of the New England Journal of Medicine, wrote in a Jan. 30
editorial. Marijuana Can Relieve Some Symptoms

Many doctors and patients say that marijuana can help to
relieve the terrible nausea suffered by AIDS patients and
by cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Others say it
relieves the pressure of glaucoma, an eye disease; the
pains of multiple sclerosis, a disease destroying nerves in
the brain and spinal cord, and more.

The National Academy of Sciences will spend $1 million
"to examine what we know and what we don't concerning
marijuana" in published medical studies, said Brian
Morton, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of National Drug
Control Policy. There are prescription medicines for nausea
and pain including Marinol, a legal drug with the active
ingredient found in marijuana. But sometimes, these drugs
don't help or their side effects are too extreme. So for
years, people with serious illnesses have been risking the
wrath of the law to smoke marijuana often on their
doctors' advice.

California and Arizona are not alone in passing laws
decriminalizing marijuana use by people who have a doctor's
recommendation; more than two dozen states have passed laws
easing prohibitions on the use of medical marijuana (New
York has no such law).

These laws are opposed by organizations such as Phoenix
House, which runs drugabuse programs in four states,
including New York. Spokesman Chris Policano said the
California law is "too vague ... we think that it means
increased availability, including for young people."

On Dec. 30, the Clinton administration threatened
doctors who tell their patients to try marijuana. As
punishment, these doctors could:

lose their licenses from the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration to prescribe medicines; be subject to
criminal prosecution;

lose their federal Medicaid and Medicare eligibility,
which would cut their incomes drastically;

lose their licenses to practice medicine.

In response, on Jan. 14, nine doctors and four patients
in California filed a classaction lawsuit against Attorney
General Janet Reno and other federal officials. It claims
that these officials are violating doctors' First Amendment
rights to tell their patients what medical care they think
would best help them.

One of the patients suing the federal government is
Keith Vines. FOR FAMILIES WHAT DO YOU THINK? Should people
with medical problems be allowed or prohibited from using
marijuana to ease their symptoms? Write us or call
STUDENTLINE 5168435454 or 7188966969, category 3700.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: If you want to learn more about the
medical marijuana issue, check out the Lindesmith Center
site on the Internet (www.lindesmith.org). This site
features fulltext articles from the academic and popular
press, focusing on drug policies from economic, criminal,
justice and public health perspectives. LET'S TALK
TOGETHER Do Parents Have the Right to Make Kids Take an
AtHome Drug Test? Its supporters call it a way for parents
to help stop their children from abusing drugs. Its
detractors say it's like having Big Brother in a box.

This month the controversial overthecounter "Dr.
Brown's Home Drug Testing System" will be available
nationwide. For the first time, parents will be able to use
this test to determine whether their children are using
illegal drugs.

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Jan. 21,
the $30 test developed by J. Theodore Brown, a clinical
psychologist can detect illegal drugs such as marijuana,
PCP, heroin, and cocaine.

FDA approval of the test comes after mounting pressure
on the government to address the rise of drug abuse among
teens. A National Institute on Drug Abuse survey released
in 1996 shows a jump in the numbers of teens using
marijuana. In 1991, 6 percent of eighthgraders surveyed
had used marijuana in the previous year; in 1996, it was 18
percent.

The test works this way: parents or guardians ask a teen
for a urine sample, which they then put in a package and
mail to a laboratory. If they prefer, they can put a number
instead of a name on the package. About three days later,
they can call for results. Results, however, are not
foolproof: eating certain foods can give positive results
for drugs. WHAT DO YOU THINK? The U.S. Secretary of Health
and Human Services, Donna Shalala, said the kit "gives
parents another option to consider to help insure that
their children remain drugfree."

Others see it differently. "For a mere $30 a pop, or a
pee," writes syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman, "parents
will have the marvelous opportunity to become their own
child's parole officer."

Do parents have the right to ask their teen to take a
urine test for drugs? Why? What would you do if your
parents asked you to take such a test? Send Your Dialogues
to Us. My View Name, Age: School, Town: Other Family
Member's View Name: Relationship, Town: You can also call
in your response to STUDENTLINE, 5168435454 or
7188966969, category 3700.