COLLEGE FAILS IN BID TO GROW MARIJUANA

A longstanding request to grow marijuana at the University of Massachusetts
so it can be tested for medical uses has been turned down by the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

The decision was faxed to the university on Friday and made public
yesterday by the Marijuana Policy Project, an independent group that favors
legalization of marijuana, particularly for medical uses.

A spokeswoman for the D.E.A. said the agency would have no comment beyond
its order, which gave the university 30 days to appeal.

The dispute is over marijuana in its smoked or vaporized form. Capsules of
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the plant's active ingredients, can be
prescribed in many states for cancer and AIDS patients suffering nausea and
appetite loss. But proponents of medical marijuana argue that the inhaled
form is more effective and contains more than 50 active ingredients that
the capsules do not.

In its order, the drug agency said the lone government-licensed marijuana
farm, operated by the University of Mississippi, grew enough for
researchers. It said that 18 medical studies using the drug had been
approved since 2000. But Dr. Lyle E. Craker, the professor of plant biology
at the University of Massachusetts who applied for the license three years
ago, said researchers complained that the government's marijuana was weak
and that it was hard to get permission to use it.

"We wanted to have a source independent from the government and with a
known potency so doctors can run clinical trials," he said. Researchers
would still need D.E.A. permission to work with the drug.

In its order, the agency said that after contacting researchers, it
determined that the Mississippi crop was of "sufficient quantity and
quality" to meet the researchers' needs.

Advocates of medical marijuana complained that the D.E.A. had prejudged the
results of clinical trials of smoked or vaporized marijuana before they
could even be conducted.

The agency's order said smoking "ultimately cannot be the permitted
delivery system for any potential marijuana medication due to the
deleterious effects and the difficulty in monitoring the efficaciousness."

In 10 states, including California, patients with a doctor's recommendation
may smoke marijuana without fear of state prosecution. The federal
government opposes those protections and has arrested users.