Pubdate: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI) Copyright: 2000 Honolulu Star-Bulletin Contact: P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802 Fax: (808) 523-8509 Feedback: http://starbulletin.com/forms/letterform.html Website: http://www.starbulletin.com/ Author: Editorial FEDS TO STUDY MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA The issue: The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has approved a program to study the medical benefits of marijuana. Our view: Results of the study should be useful in determining whether legalization of marijuana for medical use is wise. Perhaps with reluctance, the Clinton administration has approved a program in California to study and assess the potential medical benefits of marijuana. Congress and the federal Food and Drug Administration have taken the position in the past that marijuana is unsafe, but that has not kept several states, including Hawaii, from legalizing marijuana for medical use. The study should provide some badly needed answers. In 1996, California voters approved an initiative allowing the possession, cultivation and use of marijuana for medical purposes. The law allows patients to use marijuana, based on a doctor's recommendation, without risking state prosecution. Federal drug policy chief Barry McCaffrey responded by saying that doctors prescribing or recommending marijuana would lose their federal licenses to prescribe drugs, would be excluded from Medicare and could be prosecuted criminally. A federal judge earlier this year ruled that the threat against doctors recommending marijuana violated their free-speech rights. Hawaii and seven other states have enacted laws allowing medical use of marijuana. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of marijuana's medical use remains a matter of debate. The Drug Enforcement Administration has approved a program that will allow San Mateo County, Calif., to give away government-grown marijuana to 60 HIV and AIDS patients who suffer from neurological disorders. The 12-week study could begin as early as January. The program also has the blessing of the FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Drug Abuse. It will not be the first such study. Dr. Donald Abrams of the University of California at San Francisco recently found that 20 AIDS patients who smoked marijuana for three weeks gained 7.7 pounds more than 22 others who smoked placebos. Promoters of marijuana for medical use say it also settles the stomach, steadies spastic muscles and relieves PMS, glaucoma, insomnia, arthritis, depression, childbirth and attention deficit disorder. Government involvement in the study of the medical benefits of marijuana is proper for the FDA to decide whether to approve its use. Results of the study also should provide insight into whether state legalization of medical marijuana was justified. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek