Pubdate: Sat, 21 Nov 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: A32
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248

MARIJUANA AND THE AMA

For all the debate over whether marijuana has medicinal value, 
arguments that the drug has significant palliative properties or that 
it has none suffer from the same flaw: There's little scientific 
proof either way.

This lack of conclusive evidence isn't accidental. In 1970, Congress 
passed the Controlled Substances Act, classifying marijuana -- which 
had been illegal since 1937 -- as a Schedule I drug, which meant that 
it had a high potential for abuse and no medicinal value. In keeping 
with this position, the government has allowed only the University of 
Mississippi to cultivate research-grade marijuana, and has so 
restricted access to its small supply that determining the drug's 
efficacy is for all intents and purposes impossible.

So patients' advocates celebrated last week when the nation's largest 
physicians organization, the American Medical Assn., recommended that 
marijuana's schedule classification be reviewed for the purpose of 
facilitating research and the "development of cannabinoid-based 
medicines." It was indeed good news.

But hold the brownies. Although the AMA reversed a long-held 
position, it also issued a series of caveats: The change does not 
mean the organization supports state-sanctioned medical marijuana 
programs. It should not suggest that cannabis meets the standard set 
for prescription drugs. Nor is this an indication that the 
organization advocates legalization. Moreover, it has specifically 
rejected language calling for marijuana to be rescheduled.

That medical marijuana is becoming more acceptable to the mainstream 
is undeniable -- 13 states now permit its use -- but ideally, major 
healthcare policy shouldn't be enacted by popular opinion. In that 
light, the AMA's recommendation is all the more powerful for its restraint.

In 1913, California became the first state to outlaw marijuana, and 
in 1996, it became the first to approve it for medical use. We have 
been supportive of the California Compassionate Use Act, but we have 
been equally vocal about the need for research. Small studies suggest 
that cannabis relieves nerve pain in HIV patients, mitigates migraine 
headaches, reduces ocular hypertension in glaucoma patients and is 
effective against various forms of severe, chronic pain. The states 
that have legalized the drug's use for medicinal purposes have done 
so on the basis of a small body of research and a large amount of 
anecdotal evidence, but more facts are needed. The U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration should heed the doctors' orders on this matter and 
open the way to scientific investigation. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake