Pubdate: Wed, 26 Apr 2006
Source: Charleston City Paper, The (SC)
Column: The Wandering Eye
Copyright: 2006 The Charleston City Paper
Contact:  http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2400
Author: D. A. Smith
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Food+and+Drug+Administration

CLOUDED JUDGMENT

The FDA Becomes A Player In The Culture Wars

Last Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration issued an 
announcement saying there were "no sound scientific studies" that 
justified the medical use of marijuana. The statement came at the 
behest of Capitol Hill lawmakers, in particular U.S. Rep. Mark Souder 
(R-Ind.). Hmm, thought The Eye, the congressional campaign diversion 
issues are popping up early this year. FDA spokesperson Susan Bro 
said the statement came from the combined review of past studies by 
the FDA, federal drug enforcement, and regulatory and research 
agencies under the aegis of the Health and Human Services Department.

These agencies had concluded, according to Bro, "smoked marijuana has 
no currently accepted or proven medicinal use in the United States 
and is not an approved medical treatment."

The FDA statement is at polar opposites with a 1999 report issued by 
the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences 
and the country's most respected scientific advisory body, that 
concluded marijuana to be "moderately well suited for particular 
conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS 
wasting." The IOM study further urged, "marijuana's active components 
are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of 
AIDS wasting and other symptoms and should be tested rigorously in 
clinical trials." Seven years and a new political order later, the 
FDA says it had "concluded that no sound scientific studies supported 
medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no 
animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana 
for general medical use." Well, thought The Eye, "sound scientific 
studies" are necessarily hard to find when there's no funding out 
there from the federales and the drug manufacturers are trying to 
protect their turf.

Dr. John Benson, professor of internal medicine at the University of 
Nebraska Medical Center and co-chairman of the IOM marijuana study 
committee, told the New York Times that the FDA statement and the 
combined agency review behind it were flat-out wrong, saying that the 
feds "love to ignore our report ... They would rather it never 
happened." Eleven states have approved of medical marijuana use; 
however, last year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the federal 
government could arrest anyone using marijuana, even for medicinal 
purposes and even in those 11 states that had approved medical marijuana.

The FDA statement said as much as well, "Any enforcement based on 
this finding would need to be by the Drug Enforcement Agency since 
this falls outside the FDA's regulatory authority."

Great, mused The Eye, now some little old widow lady with glaucoma 
has to be on the lookout for some trigger-happy G-men.

Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy 
Project, told the Associated Press, "If anybody needed proof that the 
FDA has become totally politicized, this is it. This isn't a 
scientific statement; it's a political statement."

Mirken points a finger at the aforementioned Rep. Souder as behind 
the FDA statement, calling him "a rabid congressional opponent of 
medical marijuana."

Souder is the chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee 
and has said to AP that the driving force behind the medical 
marijuana efforts "is simply a red herring for the legalization of 
marijuana for recreational use. Studies have continually rejected the 
notion that marijuana is suitable for medical use because it 
adversely impacts concentration and memory, the lungs, motor 
coordination and the immune system."

Maybe, but back in the 90s when AIDS wreaked its havoc here in 
Charleston, The Eye didn't see any of its afflicted and dying friends 
give a rat's ass about memory loss or motor coordination as they 
literally evaporated from sight. They just wanted to feel better.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom