From [REDACTED] at [thumper.bellcore.com] Wed Jan  5 09:37:41 1994
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Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 12:29:44 -0500
From: [REDACTED] at [thumper.bellcore.com] (Daniel Liebster)
To: [net tank] at [ogre.cica.indiana.edu]
Subject: Clinton administration has more backbone than anticipated!


r w PM-MarijuanaBan     01-05 0281
^PM-Marijuana Ban,260<
^Clinton Administration Reconsiders Ban on Medical Use of Marijuana<
	   WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Clinton administration is reconsidering
the ban on the medical use of marijuana, the Public Health Service
confirmed today.
	   ``It is something everyone is anxious to get resolved,'' said
Rayford Kytle, spokesman for the service. ``There is a considerable
amount of interest, from public inquiries and members of
Congress.''
	   Starting in 1978, the government allowed people suffering from
painful, often terminal diseases who had not found relief in
traditional medications to apply to the Food and Drug
Administration for permission to use marijuana.
	   Advocates contend the illegal drug eases nausea and promotes
appetite in people suffering from AIDS or cancer, and can relieve
pain.
	   But the Bush administration in 1992 ended the program, banning
the medical testing or use of marijuana. Officials said marijuana
could be harmful instead of helpful to these patients.
	   The 15 people who were then receiving the drug were allowed to
continue, but their doctors were supposed to look into other
therapies.
	   Dr. Philip Lee, an assistant secretary in the Department of
Health and Human Services and head of the Public Health Service,
told reporters in San Francisco on Tuesday that review of the
policy had been slowed by the controversy generated by Surgeon
General Joycelyn Elders' remarks last month that legalizing drugs
might deserve study.
	   Kytle said today he didn't know how far along the review was,
but ``it is likely something will happen soon.'' However, he
cautioned that reviewing the ban did not necessarily mean it would
be reversed.
	   AP-DS-01-05-94 1018EST<