EDITORIAL: A Way to Make Pot Legal for Patients [05/18/2001; Boston Globe] Efforts to make marijuana use legal for reducing pain and nausea in patients suffering devastating diseases were dealt a setback Monday when the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that federal narcotics law permitted no exemption for medicinal use. The ruling specifically referred to an Oakland, Calif., cooperative that distributed marijuana for this purpose. Lawyers were unsure of the impact on individuals' use or on distribution by a state government, which Maine and Nevada are considering. But there is a straightforward way for Congress to end the uncertainty and let states set their own courses. Lawmakers could pass the bill sponsored by Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, which would put marijuana in the category of controlled substances that do have a medical purpose, such as morphine, and can legally be used with a doctor's prescription. Under Frank's bill, the nine states that have given marijuana this status in their own laws would no longer be in the legal limbo that the conflict with federal law has created. Other states could adopt this approach or continue to ban marijuana for all purposes. If Congress passed the Frank bill, it might just get the approval of President George Bush. As Justice John Paul Stevens noted, Bush in 1999 said he was opposed to legalizing marijuana for medical use but also said, ``I believe each state can choose that decision as they so choose.'' Advocates of the medicinal use of marijuana were encouraged by the 1999 report of the prestigious Institute of Medicine, a private, nonprofit agency chartered by Congress to provide policy advice, which found that the drug could be useful in treating patients with cancer, AIDS and other diseases. The report, which said there was no evidence that marijuana is a ``gateway'' to harder drugs, predicted that its future as a medicine would be in the development of pharmaceuticals or other delivery systems, such as a vaporizer, that used marijuana's active ingredients. The institute had studied the issue at the behest of President Clinton's drug czar, Barry R. McCaffrey, who was concerned by the trend of states adopting medicinal-use laws. The study called for more study of the effect of marijuana's active ingredients on pain and nausea. Such study has been limited not just by the federal ban and the government's reluctance to supply a source of the drug, but also by the fact that it is not patentable and no pharmaceutical company will reap profits from developing it. The Frank bill calls on the National Institute of Drug Abuse to make marijuana available for study under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. There are many legal drugs physicians can recommend for pain and nausea. But if some patients find marijuana best for their needs, politicians should not stand in their way. Norml News, 6/02 LINK to only legal marijuana farm in the US - patient oriented information LINK to UK site offering many articles and links Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.