Pubdate: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 (this story leads off more strongly than the first version by AP) EXPERTS URGE NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA STUDIES By PAUL RECER AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) There is strong evidence that marijuana has medical value and the National Institutes of Health should reconsider research into whether the weed can help sick people, an NIH advisory panel has concluded. A report being released today by the NIH said there was compelling evidence that marijuana may be medically useful for treating severe weight loss, nausea and glaucoma, one panel member said. The report suggested that the NIH could be more flexible in its policies about marijuana research. "Our panel concluded that marijuana may be useful in treating several conditions, but much of the evidence is anecdotal and needs to be confirmed in properly controlled studies," said Dr. Paul Palmberg, a member of the committee and a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He said panel members were asserting that "NIH review panels need to take another look" at funding of marijuana research and at making the weed more available for medical studies. The NIH funds much of the nation's medical research, but only rarely has provided grants for studying the therapeutic uses of marijuana. NIH officials said in February that the experts' report could have an influence on how the agency responds to scientifically valid proposals for marijuana research. Palmberg said the report "will have no bombshells," but merely reinforces conclusions announced by the committee at a news conference following a threeday meeting in February. "I think we all felt that there was enough reason to reopen investigations into the medical uses of marijuana and it is my understanding that that is what the final report cleared by Dr. (William T.) Beaver will say," said Palmberg. Beaver, a professor at the Georgetown University of School of Medicine, was chairman of the experts panel. Attempts to reach him by telephone Thursday night were unsuccessful. Palmberg said the committee generally felt that even if marijuana has no proven medical benefit, "then people need to know that too," but that such a conclusion would be possible only with more research. The panel of experts was assembled by the NIH early this year to review all published research on medical uses of marijuana and to take testimony from patients and doctors experienced in the medical use of the drug. Reports reviewed by the committee suggested that: Marijuana can control nausea for some cancer patients who do not respond to conventional antinausea drugs. Smoking marijuana helps combat wasting, the chronic loss of weight and appetite that is common among AIDS patients. Smoking marijuana helps relieve eye pressure in patients with glaucoma, a common cause of blindness caused by the excess buildup of fluid inside the eyeball. Dr. Alan Leshner, head of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, organized the panel of experts after California and Arizona enacted laws that allow medical uses of marijuana in specific circumstances. Those new laws prompted the Clinton administration to warn that doctors who prescribe marijuana can lose their federal license to prescribe other drugs. One California doctor already has been warned by the Justice Department that he is under investigation. The federal action has prompted a lawsuit by doctors in California. Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that favors relaxation of strict federal controls of marijuana, said the five months it has taken to prepare the report is a "stall tactic" by the Clinton administration. He said statements by the panelists in February clearly favored more marijuana research and that the report could have been released much earlier.