T
The420Guy
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Mar. 17, 00
Reuters Health Source: Reuters
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A year has passed since the federal government's own adviser on scientific matters concluded that seriously ill people should be allowed to smoke marijuana in limited circumstances, but the Clinton Administration still refuses to act, a national lobbying organization for marijuana-law reform charged this week. The group's attack of the administration marks the anniversary of a landmark report, issued by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) last March 17. The IOM concluded that "there are some limited circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical uses," noted the Marijuana Policy Project, the Washington, DC-based lobbying organization. As Reuters Health reported, the Department of Health and Human Services last December issued medical marijuana research guidelines that rejected the IOM's recommendation to allow "compassionate use" of medical marijuana in single-patient medical trials. A coalition of 34 members of Congress signed a statement opposing the controversial guidelines. According to the Medical Marijuana Project, the federal government's compassionate-use program currently provides marijuana to only eight patients nationwide and has been closed to new applicants since 1992. "We find it disturbing that the Clinton Administration would commission the IOM report and then reject its most important recommendation," said Chuck Thomas, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. "In the war against marijuana users, it's time to remove the sick and wounded from the battlefield," he said.
New York, Mar 17 (Reuters Health) © 2000 Reuters Limited.
Reuters Health Source: Reuters
****
A year has passed since the federal government's own adviser on scientific matters concluded that seriously ill people should be allowed to smoke marijuana in limited circumstances, but the Clinton Administration still refuses to act, a national lobbying organization for marijuana-law reform charged this week. The group's attack of the administration marks the anniversary of a landmark report, issued by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) last March 17. The IOM concluded that "there are some limited circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical uses," noted the Marijuana Policy Project, the Washington, DC-based lobbying organization. As Reuters Health reported, the Department of Health and Human Services last December issued medical marijuana research guidelines that rejected the IOM's recommendation to allow "compassionate use" of medical marijuana in single-patient medical trials. A coalition of 34 members of Congress signed a statement opposing the controversial guidelines. According to the Medical Marijuana Project, the federal government's compassionate-use program currently provides marijuana to only eight patients nationwide and has been closed to new applicants since 1992. "We find it disturbing that the Clinton Administration would commission the IOM report and then reject its most important recommendation," said Chuck Thomas, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. "In the war against marijuana users, it's time to remove the sick and wounded from the battlefield," he said.
New York, Mar 17 (Reuters Health) © 2000 Reuters Limited.