Pubdate: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: DAVID CRAGIN TWO UC CAMPUSES WILL COLLABORATE ON MEDICINAL POT STUDY San Diego Center To Coordinate Research Throughout State; UCSF Will Be Partner A state-funded program to study the benefits and safety of marijuana to treat certain diseases is being established at the University of California. The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, based at the University of California-San Diego, will be a collaboration between UCSD and the University of California-San Francisco, two of the UC system's leading biomedical research campuses. ``I hope this center will give us some answers to the benefits of marijuana for medicinal purposes,'' said Donald Abrams, co-director of the cannabis center and a professor of medicine at UCSF. ``By doing the science, we can properly determine, and mandate what is good and bad.'' The cannabis center will administer $3 million in first-year funding to support and coordinate scientific research at universities and research centers throughout California, assessing the use of cannabis as an alternative for treating specific medical conditions. Abrams said the symptoms and conditions for which cannabis might be a useful treatment option include severe appetite suppression, chronic pain resulting from certain types of diseases such as AIDS and nausea associated with cancer and its treatment. Support will be awarded on a competitive basis to those studies determined to be of the highest scientific quality, with studies anticipated to begin as early as January 2001. California voters approved the use of medicinal marijuana in 1996 with the passage of Proposition 215, but because of the lack of definitive research, it was unclear what role the substance should play in patient care, or how it should be administered as a pharmaceutical agent. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens