MARIJUANA VAPORIZER MAKES MEDICAL POT SAFER, BACKERS SAY

The future of medicinal marijuana is floating in a plastic,
2-foot-long turkey roasting bag, being sucked into the lungs of
grandmas and AIDS patients at cannabis dispensaries and homes across
the country.

The allure to the sick -- and the health-conscious looking for a
cleaner high -- is that the toke is nearly smokeless.

The device that generates the smokeless drag is called a marijuana
vaporizer. Medical cannabis advocates hope these devices -- which
stand slightly larger than a blender and can cost close to $500 --
will help legitimize marijuana's medicinal use.

By heating cannabis to a point where vapors are formed but before the
herb combusts, a vaporizer creates a clear substance that, advocates
say, is practically free of many of the toxins found in marijuana smoke.

"The smoke aspect is a real problem in making the case for medicinal
marijuana," said Dale Gieringer, executive director of the California
branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
and one of the early evangelists of vaporizing technology.

In the past two years, more than a dozen manufacturers have sprung
up. But federal officials and scientists involved in cannabis
research aren't ready to OK firing up the devices.

"It's clear that smoked marijuana has not passed the health and
safety standards of the [Food and Drug Administration]," said
Jennifer Devallance, spokeswoman for the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, home of the White House drug czar.