FDA REJECTS MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL USES

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that
it does not support the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

The FDA said in a statement that it and other agencies with the
Health and Human Services Department had "concluded that no sound
scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment
in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the
safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use."

A number of states have passed legislation allowing marijuana use for
medical purposes, but the FDA said, "These measures are inconsistent
with efforts to ensure that medications undergo the rigorous
scientific scrutiny of the FDA approval process and are proven safe
and effective."

The statement contradicts a 1999 finding from the Institute of
Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, which reported
that "marijuana's active components are potentially effective in
treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AIDS wasting and other
symptoms, and should be tested rigorously in clinical trials."

Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy
Project, said Thursday: "If anybody needed proof that the FDA has
become totally politicized, this is it. This isn't a scientific
statement; it's a political statement."

Mirken said "a rabid congressional opponent of medical marijuana,"
Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., asked the FDA to make the statement.

Souder, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on drug
policy, has said the promotion of medical marijuana "is simply a red
herring for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.
Studies have continually rejected the notion that marijuana is
suitable for medical use because it adversely impacts concentration
and memory, the lungs, motor coordination and the immune system."

The FDA statement noted "there is currently sound evidence that
smoked marijuana is harmful." It also said, "There are alternative
FDA-approved medications in existence for treatment of many of the
proposed uses of smoked marijuana."

Mirken responded, "There is abundant evidence that marijuana can help
cancer patients, multiple sclerosis patients and AIDS patients. There
is no scientific doubt that marijuana relieves nausea, vomiting,
certain kinds of pain and other symptoms that don't respond well to
conventional drugs, and does it more safely than other drugs.

"For the FDA to ignore all that evidence is embarrassing," Mirken
said. "They should be red-faced."