PHYSICIANS CHANGE TUNE ON MARIJUANA

The AMA Wants More Research on Cannabis Medicines and a Lesser Drug
Classification.

The American Medical Assn. on Tuesday urged the federal government to
reconsider its classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with
no accepted medical use, a significant shift that puts the
prestigious group behind calls for more research.

The nation's largest physicians organization, with about 250,000
member doctors, the AMA has maintained since 1997 that marijuana
should remain a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive
category, which also includes heroin and LSD.

In changing its policy, the group said its goal was to clear the way
to conduct clinical research, develop cannabis-based medicines and
devise alternative ways to deliver the drug.

"Despite more than 30 years of clinical research, only a small number
of randomized, controlled trials have been conducted on smoked
cannabis," said Dr. Edward Langston, an AMA board member, noting that
the limited number of studies was "insufficient to satisfy the
current standards for a prescription drug product."

The decision by the organization's delegates at a meeting in Houston
marks another step in the evolving view of marijuana, which an AMA
report notes was once linked by the federal government to homicidal
mania. Since California voters approved the use of medical marijuana
in 1996, marijuana has moved steadily into the cultural mainstream
spurred by the growing awareness that it can have beneficial effects
for some chronically ill people.

This year, the Obama administration sped up that drift when it
ordered federal narcotics agents not to arrest medical marijuana
users and providers who follow state laws. Polls show broadening
support for marijuana legalization.

Thirteen states allow the use of medical marijuana, and about a dozen
more have considered it this year.

The AMA, however, also adopted as part of its new policy a sentence
that admonishes: "This should not be viewed as an endorsement of
state-based medical cannabis programs, the legalization of marijuana,
or that scientific evidence on the therapeutic use of cannabis meets
the current standards for a prescription drug product."

The association also rejected a proposal to issue a more forceful
call for marijuana to be rescheduled.

Nevertheless, marijuana advocates welcomed the development. "They're
clearly taking an open-minded stance and acknowledging that the
evidence warrants a review. That is very big," said Bruce Mirken, a
spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. "It's not surprising that
they are moving cautiously and one step at a time, but this is still
a very significant change."

Advocates also noted that the AMA rejected an amendment that they
said would have undercut the medical marijuana movement. The measure
would have made it AMA's policy that "smoking is an inherently unsafe
delivery method for any therapeutic agent, and therefore smoked
marijuana should not be recommended for medical use."

Dr. Michael M. Miller, a psychiatrist who practices addiction
medicine, proposed the amendment. "Smoking is a bad delivery system
because you're combusting something and inhaling it," he said.

Reaction from the federal government was muted.

Dawn Dearden with the Drug Enforcement Administration said: "At this
point, it's still a Schedule I drug, and we're going to treat it as
such." The Food and Drug Administration declined to comment.

In a statement, the office of the White House drug czar reiterated
the administration's opposition to legalization and said that it
would defer to "the FDA's judgment that the raw marijuana plant
cannot meet the standards for identity, strength, quality, purity,
packaging and labeling required of medicine."

The DEA classifies drugs into five schedules, with the fifth being
the least-restrictive. Schedule II drugs, such as cocaine and
morphine, are considered to have a high potential for abuse, but also
to have accepted medical uses.

Several petitions have been filed to reschedule marijuana. The first,
filed in 1972, bounced back and forth between the DEA and the courts
until it died in 1994. A petition filed in 2002 is under consideration.

Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, said that
advocates hoped the petition would receive more attention. "Given the
change of heart by the AMA, there is every opportunity for the Obama
administration to do just that," he said.

In a report released with its new policy, the AMA notes that the
organization was "virtually alone" in opposing the first federal
restrictions on marijuana, which were adopted in 1937. Cannabis had
been used in various medicinal products for years, but fell into
disuse in the early 20th century.

Sunil Aggarwal, a medical student at the University of Washington,
helped spark the AMA's reconsideration after he researched
marijuana's effect on 186 chronically ill patients. "I had reason to
believe that there was medical good that could come from these
products, and I wanted to see AMA policy reflect that," he said.

The AMA is not the only major doctors organization to rethink
marijuana. Last year, the American College of Physicians, the
second-largest physician group, called for "rigorous scientific
evaluation of the potential therapeutic benefits of medical
marijuana" and an "evidence-based review of marijuana's status as a
Schedule I controlled substance."

Last month, the California Medical Assn. passed resolutions that
declared the criminalization of marijuana "a failed public health
policy" and called on the organization to take part in the debate on
changing current policy.