THE MISSOULA STUDY

The Missoula Chronic Clinical Cannabis Use Study examined the overall
health status of four of the seven surviving patients in the Compassionate
Investigational New Drug (IND) program of the Federal Drug Administration.
The patients had used "a known dosage of a standardized, heat-sterilized
quality-controlled supply of low-grade marijuana for 11 to 27 years."

The study, performed by researchers associated with the Montana
Neurobehavioral Specialists in Missoula and others at the Univ. of Montana
and the Univ. of South Florida, concluded: "Results indicate clinical
effectiveness in these patients in treating glaucoma, chronic
musculoskeletal pain, spasm and nausea, and spasticity of muscular
sclerosis. All four patients are stable with respect to their chronic
conditions, and are taking many fewer standard pharmaceuticals than
previously." The study did note mild changes in lung function in two of the
patients, but no other significant negative health effects.

"These results would support the provision of clinical cannabis to a
greater number of patients in need," concluded the researchers. "We believe
that cannabis can be a safe and effective medicine with various suggested
improvements in the existing Compassionate IND program."

The Missoula Study reviews the relatively thin literature of scientific
study of chronic marijuana use over the last century and notes that this is
the first study to focus on benefits and side effects of the clinical use
of known amounts of quality-controlled cannabis. Through the case of the
late Randall Robinson, who suffered from glaucoma and after a legal fight
began using medicinal marijuana in November 1976, it gives a brief history
of the Compassionate IND program -- which apparently never included more
than a few dozen patients -- through the 1980s. The advent of AIDS created
a whole new group of applicants, but for unannounced reasons the Public
Health Service of the first Bush administration closed the program to new
patients in 1992. "A significant number," report the authors, "had received
medical approval but were never supplied."

George McMahon is "Patient B" in the study. His medical history is
recounted in detail, and the report notes that his condition improved
considerably after he began using medicinal marijuana regularly in March
1990. The study also describes the official cultivation and preparation of
the NIDA's marijuana cigarettes, reporting they are greatly inferior to the
cannabis provided by the government in the United Kingdom under a similar
program. All of the study patients say they have logistical difficulty and
interruptions in getting their assigned supply of marijuana, must
occasionally supplement inadequate supplies by other means, and have been
occasionally subject to harassment by law enforcement or security personnel.

Based on their research, the authors of the Missoula Study recommend that
the Compassionate IND program be reopened and extended to other patients in
need, or that "local, state, and federal laws might be amended to provide
regulated and monitored clinical cannabis to suitable candidates."

----------------------------------------------------- Copies of the
study, "Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug
Program: An Examination of Benefits and Adverse Effects of Legal, Clinical
Cannabis," by Ethan Russo, et al., Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, Vol. 2
[1] 2002, are available for a fee from The Haworth Documentary Delivery
Service:

1-800-HAWORTH or www.haworthpress.com