EDITORIALS

Time to test medical marijuana

The National Institutes of Health should accept the recommendation of its
expert panel and conduct fulldress clinical tests to determine once and for
all whether there are legitimate medical uses for marijuana.

Anecdotal evidence suggests there are: in easing the weight loss and nausea
caused by certain kinds of cancer chemotherapy; in treating glaucoma; in
controlling the symptoms of epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, and in simple
pain relief.

However, anecdotal evidence is not scientific evidence, and the highly
respected NIH has done little or nothing to resolve the controversy. Perhaps,
as NIH says, there are competing and better uses for its limited funds, but
it's hard not to suspect that the agency has been dragging its feet for fear
of what it might find.

A finding in favor of medicinal uses of marijuana would undoubtedly enmesh
the agency in controversy, but it's better that this question be resolved
medically before it is solved politically and that's already begun to
happen with bellwether promarijuana referendums in California and Arizona.

At this late stage in the marijuana debate, it's impossible to justify
willful ignorance.