Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Thursday October 2 5:36 AM EDT
"At the end of the day, it seems to me ... (that we'll give them) the scientific fact, and let the American people make up their own minds," McCaffrey told members of a House panel on crime Wednesday.
Later, McCaffrey was blunt when asked whether he would travel to Florida, Arkansas and other states to oppose so-called medical marijuana measures that were expected to be placed on voters' ballots.
"I am not in charge of America," McCaffrey told Reuters. "I'll provide information for the debate, leaning heavily on the scientific-medical community. I'll inform them of federal law. I'm not America's nanny. The American people are perfectly capable, when they are exposed to the facts, of making up their own mind."
Eight states -- California, Arizona, Louisiana, Georgia, Virginia, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont -- have medical marijuana laws, according to McCaffrey's office of National Drug Control Policy.
Five more states -- Alaska, Washington state, Arkansas, Florida and Massachusetts -- plus Washington D.C., have such initiatives pending.
Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School said in prepared testimony that marijuana can be useful in treating the nausea often brought on by cancer chemotherapy and can also be effective for patients with glaucoma, seizures and chronic pain and AIDS weight-loss syndrome.
Grinspoon likened the general rejection of marijuana's medical uses to early suspicions about penicillin. Like penicillin, Grinspoon said in prepared remarks, marijuana was non-toxic, inexpensive to produce and extremely versatile.
McCaffrey said further studies were needed to determine marijuana's effectiveness for medical purposes, and said the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were performing these studies.
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