UMASS PROFESSOR REQUESTS PERMISSION TO GROW MARIJUANA FOR RESEARCH

AMHERST, Mass. - A University of Massachusetts professor wants
permission to grow high-potency marijuana on campus for medical research.

If the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug
Administration approve the request, UMass would join the University of
Mississippi as the only legal grower of marijuana for research, the
Daily Hampshire Gazette reported Thursday.

"My current thought is that there has not been sufficient testing to
tell whether this is a drug that can help people or not," said
Professor Lyle Craker, director of the UMass medicinal plant program.

"If I look at this as a potential medicinal plant, than it is our
responsibility to see that this plant material is investigated, so
that the questions of whether it has medical significance or not can
be answered," Craker said.

The DEA has set a Sept. 22 deadline for feedback before it rules on
the proposal.

Craker submitted his request to the DEA in June 2001 for permission to
grow 25 pounds of high-potency marijuana to treat AIDS symptoms,
glaucoma and multiple sclerosis, as well as to alleviate pain and
chemotherapy side effects.

Craker said DEA officials visited the UMass-Amherst campus in December
to review his application.

The project has support from U.S. Reps. John Olver, Barney Frank,
James McGovern, William Delahunt and Michael Capuano. The five
Massachusetts Democrats wrote to DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson in
June 2002, urging the agency to license privately funded sources of
marijuana.

In response to Frank's letter, Hutchinson argued that the University
of Mississippi produces an adequate supply of research-grade marijuana
for the United States. The school has supplied the National Institute
on Drug Abuse with marijuana for 30 years.

Craker proposes to grow a more potent grade with funding from the
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a Florida-based
nonprofit research and educational organization that seeks to develop
marijuana as an FDA-approved prescription medication.