MEDICAL VALUE OF MARIJUANA STILL NEEDS TO BE DETERMINED

The issue of legalizing the medical use of marijuana continues to
generate news and debate.

Does marijuana have medicinal qualities that warrant legalizing its
use by those with serious illnesses?

Or, is it strictly a recreational drug that should remain criminal to
grow or use?

Hawaii, Arizona, California, and Washington have laws allowing
medicinal use of marijuana, or cannabis.

Last year, the University of California at San Diego established a
Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research and is sharing $3 million for
scientific research with several universities and research centers
throughout California to assess the use of marijuana for treating
specific medical conditions.

Some of the conditions researchers say may be helped by the use of
cannabis are nausea associated with cancer and its treatment, severe
loss of appetite

because of HIV infection and other medical conditions, chronic pain
that results from certain types of injuries and diseases and severe
muscle spasticity caused by diseases such as multiple sclerosis or
spinal cord injuries.

Some patients tout the drug's effectiveness, and animal research
supports their arguments that marijuana may not be any more harmful
than standard medicines.

Unless substitute synthetic medicines can be developed that don't
rely on the cannabis plant for ingredients, there will be a continued
fight about using it legally -- at least until the Supreme Court
decides differently.

Should researchers prove that cannabis does have useful medicinal
properties, it's doubtful marijuana cigarettes will show up on the
shelves of pharmacies.

Drug manufacturers can't patent the drug, and pharmaceutical
companies won't pay for the costly tests required by law to gain
approval from federal regulators.

In one report from The Associated Press, Igor Grant, head of the
University of California at San Diego's Center for Medicinal Cannabis
Research, said, "It's not going to be easy to sell marijuana
cigarettes as a medicine, even if it could be shown there are
particular benefits. It seems that if these things are indeed useful,
we would have to find a way to deliver them in a manner that is
prescribable."

Nonsmokers have found it difficult to inhale the marijuana smoke.
Also, some studies have found the smoke may be as harmful to lungs,
if not more so, as cigarette smoke. In fact, there is even the
possibility of toxicity in some methods of use.

Some experts think marijuana's "real future" is definitely in the
drug's ingredients THC and about 60 other cannabinoids (it isn't just
one drug, but a variable and complex mixture of biologically active
compounds -- containing more than 400 chemicals), which can be
isolated, improved and patented.

We may one day find a spray in local pharmacies that will have some
of these ingredients and does provide relief for a variety of
ailments.

However, the cost of a prescription may be far more expensive than
buying illegal marijuana, which could contain pesticides, herbicides,
fertilizers, or be infected with molds, fungi or bacteria.

Only time will tell on this, but it's a sure bet the only way
cannabis will ever be legalized is if states agree on the issue and
the laws are changed nationally.

If you want to know more about cannabis, check with:

National Institutes of Health, 5600 Fishers Lane, Bethesda, MD 20892.

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine,
888-644-6226 (Voice) 866-464-3615 (TTY), www.nccam.nih.gov/

National Institute on Drug Abuse National Institutes of Health 6001
Executive Boulevard, Room 5213 Bethesda, MD 20892-9561, 301-443-1124;
e-mail: Information @lists.nida.nih.gov; Web site:
www.nida.nih.gov/drugpages /marijuana.html.