MARIJUANA RESEARCH NOT ALLOWED BY DEA

In Jan. 31-Feb. 1 Daily Star there was a Tom Grace article about
medical marijuana. Sen. Seward's office said he might support a
medical marijuana bill if marijuana were FDA-approved and strictly
controlled, but Seward would not support growing it because that
would make it harder to control.

Several years ago, the Government Accounting Office looked at the
states that had medical marijuana laws and where patients and/or
their caregivers are allowed to grow it, and found no increase in
police services or youthful use. More recently, a study done by Dr.
Mitch Earlywine of SUNY Albany shows an actual decrease in youthful
use in all the states that have a medical marijuana law on the books
_ in one case a decrease of 50 percent. I guess teenagers don't find
the sick and dying very sexy.

As far as FDA approval, that will never happen because of the Drug
Enforcement Administration. The DEA is a nutsy organization that
grows pot on its Mississippi farm and sends it to three Americans who
have medical conditions that no other drug will help. In spite of
this, it claims marijuana has no accepted medical use and refuses to
move it out of Schedule I, although its administrative law judge
recommended that it do so in 1988.

More recently, the DEA again went against its own advice. A professor
and horticultural specialist in medicinal plants at University of
Massachusetts, Lyle Craker, was denied permission to grow marijuana
with which to conduct research, although the administrative law
judge recommended that he be so allowed.

In short, the DEA will not allow any research to be done with its
marijuana, and it won't allow anyone else to grow it.

Bruce Dunn

Morris