Trials of Marijuana's Medical Potential Languish as Government Just Says No

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Trials of Marijuana's Medical Potential Languish as Government Just Says No

Scientist (11/27/95) Vol. 9, No. 23, P. 1
Gwynne, Peter

Researchers say that at present, no trials involving the medical use of marijuana are being conducted. Supporters of such studies attribute the lack of action to the federal government, charging that the current administration, as well as its predecessors, is unjustly concerned about being thought of as lenient toward drugs if it approves research for the medical use of the drug. Although government officials seem wary to discuss clinical trials of marijuana on record, sources at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reject the notion that they are obstructing medical marijuana studies. They say that they will approve and then provide marijuana cigarettes for well-designed trials, but that no one has yet submitted an acceptable plan. Currently, NIDA has only approved eight patients to receive the cigarettes--the rest of the government's supply is reserved for laboratory animals and smoking machines. DEA administrator Thomas Constantine maintains that his agency "will remain opposed to the rescheduling of marijuana from" a class of drugs which has no proven medical use to a class which while still addictive, has some medical benefits, "because there are no proven applications for its use." Furthermore, both supporters and detractors of the medical use of marijuana agree that one potential danger of the drug is lung damage. However, the United States is not the only nation to lack human studies of the possible medical uses of marijuana. Other nations, including Canada, Britain, and Switzerland, have also rejected such research.

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