Pubdate: 13 Jan 98 Source: Le Monde (France's largest newspaper) Contact: 0011 (33) 1 40-652-525 Author: Laurence Follea Editors note: I snatched the contact info from an anti-nuke site. While I think it is good, I would appreciate it if anyone can verify LOBBY GROWS FOR 'MEDICINAL MARIJUANA' THE Movement for Controlled Legalisation (MLC), which advocates the sale of narcotics under state control, has just asked the French health minister, Bernard Kouchner, to authorise the import of 10kg of cannabis for therapeutic use. The jurists of the MLC base their arguments on articles of the public health code that give the health authorities the right to authorise the import and use of narcotics for medical or scientific research. The Swiss company Valchanvre has offered to supply, free, 10kg of its Walliser Queen variety of cannabis for the MLC's experiment. The use of cannabis as a medicine was recently legalised in California. Germany is considering prescribing drugs containing the active ingredient of cannabis for Aids sufferers, and the Netherlands is looking into the possibility of "medical marijuana" being paid for by social security. Ten patients who are MLC members and have medical certificates showing that they suffer from such ailments as epilepsy, glaucoma, tinnitus, headaches or HIV infection, have written to Kouchner describing the relief they derive from cannabis. Some of them have been in trouble with the law because of their practice. Eugène Gaudet, a doctor in the southern town of Millau, has certified that when one of his patients, a 20-year-old epileptic, smoked cannabis he was able to relax: "The fact that he has smoked such products has created no incident likely to jeopardise the harmonious family environment or his ability to work normally." Janine Cervoni, who has been treating a young HIV-positive patient at the Lariboisière Hospital in Paris, stresses the role that cannabis plays as a "psychological support" for her patient. Pierre Lembeye, a Paris psychiatrist, has noted a genuine therapeutic affect on one of his patients, who suffers from hearing disorders. "The patient has tried cannabis since 1977. He has an immediate feeling of relaxation and an appreciable reduction in his hearing disorders. "These isolated medical observations do not constitute scientific proof, and the virtues of cannabis have yet to be confirmed. In a recent editorial, however, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine came out in favour of the "compassionate" use of such products by terminal patients. Kouchner himself is in favour of such an approach. But it remains to be seen what action he will take in response to the MLC's request. Copyright by © Le Monde, Paris