Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Wednesday, October 1, 1997 - 1:35 PM EDT
Bill McCollum, chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime opened the hearing today saying, "I find the medical marijuana movement very troubling." McCollum said, its supporters "exploit the suffering of the terminally ill to advance their drug legalization agenda."
The committee convened the hearing as a growing number of states are considering propositions to legalize marijuana medical uses. In 1996, Californa and Arizona passed ballot initiatives permitting physicians to prescribe marijuana.
National drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey, said, he that such initiatives are "subverting the public health process, and declaring smoked marijuana a 'medicine' threatens the integrity of our established medical safeguards."
In his written testimony, Dr. Lester Grinspoon from Harvard Medical School said the medical uses of marijuana have been recognized for thousands for years.
Grinspoon said, "It is far safer than most medicines prescribed by doctors daily and often works for patients who cannot tolerate the side effects of other drugs."
He referred to clinical experience that marijuana helps patients with such ailments as AIDS weightloss syndrome, and severe nausea and vomitting.
But McCaffrey said, "If sound medical research demonstrates there are medical uses for smoked marijuana, there are appropriate and responsible procedures for rescheduling this mind-influencing drug."
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