Pubdate: Tue, 3 Nov 1998
Source: USA Today (US)
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Copyright: 1998 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Author: Richard Willing

AUTHORITIES CONSIDER MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON -- Responding to a request from a federal judge, the Justice
Department is considering whether to permit government-supervised use of
marijuana as a treatment for certain sick people.

If Justice agrees to settle a lawsuit as proposed by a district judge in
Philadelphia, government-approved marijuana could be available to thousands
of AIDS and cancer sufferers and other patients. In return, the 160
plaintiffs in the case would drop their lawsuit.

Now, only about eight patients nationwide receive government-approved
marijuana under a program administered by the Department of Health and Human
Services.

Agreeing to the proposed settlement would mark a major reversal of Justice
Department policy. Since January, the department has filed suit seeking to
close at least six California "marijuana clubs" which supply members,
including disease sufferers, with the drug.

"This is definitely new," said Dave Fratello, spokesman for Americans for
Medical Rights, a Los Angeles-based group that favors making marijuana
available with a doctor's approval. "This could change the entire trend of
federal policy."

The proposal was made late last month by Judge Marvin Katz to settle a
class-action suit that contends laws prohibiting marijuana use are
unconstitutional. Justice Department lawyers filed papers Thursday asking
for "at least 60 days" to consider the judge's proposal.

"There are provisions in the law that allow for scientific research . . .
under scientific conditions," said Gregory King, a department spokesman.

"(But) we have taken the position that marijuana must go through the same
process all medications go through prior to their approval . . . to be
cleared by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)." That has never happened.

Marijuana can produce a "high" leading to addiction. It also is credited by
disease sufferers with a host of benefits, such as relieving nausea
associated with chemotherapy.

Today, voters in five states and the District of Columbia will decide
whether to make medical marijuana available under a doctor's direction.

A government-sponsored medical marijuana study is being phased out by the
Clinton administration, which doubts the drug's benefits. Eight holdovers
from the project receive government-sanctioned marijuana grown at a federal
facility in Oxford, Miss.

Katz is a 68-year-old Ronald Reagan appointee on senior, or semiretired,
status.

Through an assistant, the judge declined to answer questions about the case.

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Checked-by: Rolf Ernst