
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991                   TAG: 9103050085
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MARIJUANA MEDICAL USE URGED/ COURT ASKED TO OK LEGISLATION

Two private groups urged a federal appeals court Monday to legalize marijuana for medical purposes such as controlling nausea in cancer patients and eye pressure among glaucoma victims.

The move would allow thousands of patients who are illegally using the drug to come within the law, the groups argued.

A government attorney told the court that legalization is unnecessary because, under current law, doctors can apply to prescribe the drug for "compassionate" purposes.

But attorneys seeking legalization said the licensing process for such prescriptions imposes an unreasonable burden on doctors seeking to dispense the drug.

"This case, your honors, is not about recreational use of the drug," said attorney Thomas Collier, representing the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics. If medical use were allowed, it still would be regulated by the government, he said.

The groups Collier represents took the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after the federal Drug Enforcement Agency ruled that marijuana, which has been illegal in the United States since 1937, shouldn't be legalized for medical purposes.

The DEA said marijuana must still be viewed as a research drug. The decision, made in December 1989, was contrary to the recommendation of the administrative law judge within the agency who heard the case.

The groups Collier is representing contend that marijuana eases nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, lessens muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis and reduces eye pressure for glaucoma patients.

Collier said the DEA's decision against it was based partly on a standard requiring marijuana to be generally available for use and that its use be accepted by a substantial segment of the medical community. That is not possible as long as it as a research drug, he contended.

"You make a powerful point there," said Judge Laurence H. Silberman, one of three judges on the appellate panel. "It seems to me a bit of a Catch-22 point."

Attorney Charlotte Johnson Mapes, representing the DEA, said marijuana could be generally available for medical use under current rules that allow it to be used in some cases for "compassionate" purposes.

The Food and Drug Administration has said that at least 24 applications for "compassionate" purposes have been approved since 1976.

by CNB