POT NOT MEDICINE, FDA SAYS

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration declared Thursday that
"no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of smoked
marijuana. The statement, which contradicts a 1999 review by top
government scientists, inserts the health agency into yet another
political fight.

Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said the statement resulted from a
combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research
agencies that concluded that "smoked marijuana has no currently
accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an
approved medical treatment." She said the FDA was issuing the
statement because of numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill but would
likely do nothing to enforce it.

"Any enforcement based on this finding would need to be by DEA, since
this falls outside of FDA's regulatory authority," she said.

Eleven states have legalized medicinal uses of marijuana, but the Drug
Enforcement Administration and the nation's drug czar, John Walters,
have opposed those efforts. A Supreme Court decision last year allowed
the federal government to arrest anyone using marijuana, even in
states that have legalized its use.

Congressional opponents and supporters of medical marijuana have each
tried to enlist the FDA to support their views. Rep. Mark Souder,
R-Ind., a fierce opponent of medical marijuana initiatives, proposed
legislation two years ago that would have required the FDA to issue an
opinion on the medicinal properties of the drug.

Souder believes efforts to legalize medicinal uses of marijuana are "a
front" for efforts to legalize all uses of marijuana, said Martin
Green, a spokesman for Souder.

Tom Riley, a spokesman for Walters, hailed the FDA statement, saying
that it would put to rest "the bizarre public discussion" that has led
11 states to legalize the drug's use.

The FDA statement directly contradicts a 1999 review by the Institute
of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's
most prestigious scientific evaluative agency. That review found
marijuana to be "moderately well suited for particular conditions,
such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting."

Some scientists and legislators said the agency's statement about
marijuana demonstrates that politics is trumping science there.

"Unfortunately, this is yet another example of the FDA making
pronouncements that seem to be driven more by ideology than by
science," said Dr. Jerry Avorn, a professor at Harvard Medical School.