Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 19:17:49 -0600
To: [iowanor m l] at [commonlink.com]
From: "Carl E. Olsen" <[c--l] at [commonlink.net]>
Subject: WIRE: Drug Czar: Marijuana OK if proved effective

Rocky Mountain News [Denver]
Jan 12, 1997 pg. 50A

Drug czar: Marijuana OK if proved effective

By Constance Sommer
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- American patients will have access to marijuana and other
illegal drugs if scientists conclude those drugs have proven medical uses,
White House drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey said.

"If a scientific, medical process establishes that marijuana has a medical
benefit, we will move ... to make it available in America," McCaffrey said
Friday. "That's an easy one."

But the retired Army general said the question is for medical professionals,
not voters.

Last Nov. 5, Arizona and California passed ballot initiatives that ease
restrictions on the medical use of marijuana -- and in the case of Arizona,
heroin, LSD, and methamphetamines as well. California voters approved their
initiative 56%-44% and Arizona voted theirs 65%-35%. 

Some chronically ill patients say the drugs relieve their pain more
effectively than legal medication, and some cancer patients maintain that
smoking marijuana cuts the nausea brought on by chemotherapy.

Both measures are at odds with federal law and are opposed by the Clinton
administration. 

McCaffrey's latest statement was more conciliatory than one in Washington in
late December when he called the measures "hoax initiatives" that were "not
about compassion" but about "legalizing dangerous drugs."

The remarks were made at a Clinton administration press conference called to
say that the federal government would prosecute doctors who prescribed
illegal drugs.

On Friday, McCaffrey said: "There are some doctors -- respected ones -- who
think smoking marijuana is beneficial. We need to look into it. We need to
respect their opinions, too."


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