Contact:  Thu, 26 Feb 1998
Source:   Arizona Daily Star
Contact:  HOUSE PANEL AGAINST MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

Congressional Quarterly

WASHINGTON - A House Judiciary subcommittee yesterday  approved a
non-binding resolution that would put Congress  on record against the
legalization of marijuana for  medical purposes.

Crime subcommittee Chairman Bill McCollum, R-Fla., said  Congress needed to
act in the wake of recent state  initiatives that allowed doctors to
recommend marijuana to  patients.

California and Arizona voters decided in 1996 to permit  physicians to
prescribe or recommend marijuana to treat  various maladies ranging from
AIDS to nausea from cancer  chemotherapy to painful pressure on the eyes
caused by  glaucoma. Supporters of legalization say that in many  cases,
marijuana is the only drug patients can tolerate to relieve their symptoms.

But McCollum said that allowing marijuana use, even among  terminally ill
patients, sends a message to youngsters  that marijuana is not dangerous.
McCollum said marijuana  has a high potential for abuse and can break down
the  immune system.

Federal law bars the use and possession of marijuana,  without exception.
The federal government currently  considers marijuana to have no scientific
use, and federal  and state studies are generally prohibited from using
taxpayer funds to study the effects of the drug, medicinal  or otherwise.