Pubdate: Wed, 30 Aug 2000
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2000 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/
Author: David Perlman

A MEDICAL MARIJUANA RESEARCH CENTER

Physicians at the San Francisco and San Diego campuses of the University of 
California announced yesterday that they will set up a scientific research 
center to study the medical uses and effects of marijuana.

The new Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, which is to be established 
in San Diego, will start off with $3 million in state money for its first 
year, the doctors said.

The money will support grants for well-controlled studies seeking to 
determine whether the weed is safe and effective in relieving the 
distressing side effects of powerful AIDS drugs and cancer chemotherapy agents.

One of the co-directors of the center will be Donald Abrams, a UCSF 
professor of medicine and a pioneer community AIDS doctor.

The money comes as a result of a bill introduced by Sen. John Vasconcellos, 
D-Santa Clara, and signed in October by Gov. Gray Davis. It calls for a 
three-year program of research that will ``enhance understanding of the 
efficacy and adverse effects of marijuana as a pharmacological agent.''

According to Abrams, the first research grants will be made in line with 
the center's scientific agenda, focusing on the possible use of the weed in 
allaying chronic pain, nausea and loss of appetite that pose major problems 
for cancer and AIDS patients, and also for relieving spasticity and tremors 
in patients with multiple sclerosis. Abrams in July reported on the first 
federally approved safety study of smoked marijuana that he conducted in 
San Francisco. Twenty AIDS patients who smoked ``government grade'' pot 
under close medical supervision for three weeks ate better and gained an 
average of 7.7 pounds compared with 22 patients who smoked only a placebo, 
he found.

The beginning of a change in the official federal drug policy that has long 
barred any experiments with marijuana was heralded in March when a detailed 
scientific report from the National Research Council sought by President 
Clinton recommended careful scientific studies of the weed's medical potential.

``This is an important opportunity to continue to evaluate the therapeutic 
potential of cannabis,'' Abrams said. ``The findings of our initial safety 
trial suggest that studies of the possible effectiveness of marijuana 
should be launched now.''

The marijuana supplies for researchers approved by the new center will come 
from the National Institute on Drug Abuse -- and then only after each study 
has been approved by many bureaucratic layers, including local human 
research committees, state health agencies, the U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration and the federal institute on drug abuse.
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