The report by the independent Institute of Medicine and anticipated in the NZ Herald on Wednesday, was commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and could spark a reassessment of the decades-long US drive to ban almost all marijuana use.

"We uncovered an explosion of new scientific knowledge about how the active components in marijuana affect the body and in how they might be used in a medical context," Dr John Benson, one of the principal investigators for the report, said.

The institute's study, the product of more than 18 months of research, highlighted continued concerns over marijuana, noting that the common practice of smoking the drug was medically dangerous.

But it also declared that marijuana was not particularly addictive and did not appear to be a "gateway" to the use of harder drugs such as heroin.

For some patients with severe Aids or cancer symptoms such as nausea, wasting and lack of appetite, marijuana - even in its smoked form - appeared to have benefits that outweigh its risks, the investigators said.

The report stressed new research should aim to design a "non-smoked, rapid onset" delivery system which could mimic the speedy action of a smoked marijuana cigarette.

The increasingly bitter US debate over medical marijuana was sparked in 1996 when California became the first state to pass a local initiative aimed at allowing patients with Aids, cancer, and other serious diseases to use the drug.

Six other states have passed similar laws.

Barry McCaffrey, President Bill Clinton's anti-drug "tsar" and long an outspoken opponent of relaxing anti-marijuana laws, ordered the report in 1997. His office responded to the report's findings with a call for more research.

"We will carefully study the recommendations and conclusions contained in this report," the Office of National Drug Control Policy said.

Supporters of the medical marijuana movement declared the institute's report an unequivocal victory.

Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights, the sponsor of six 1998 state marijuana initiatives, said the institute's findings would radically rework the public image of what has long been one of the United States' most demonised drugs.

"They are in effect saying that most of what the Government has told us about marijuana is false.

"It's not addictive, it's not a gateway to heroin and cocaine, it has legitimate medical use, and it's not as dangerous as common drugs like Prozac and Viagra," he said.

"This is about as positive as you can get." - REUTERS

© Copyright 1999, NZ Herald

Approval to prescribe cannabis has never been granted in New Zealand, but patient advocates say people with HIV-related illnesses, cancer, back pain and neuromuscular disorders such as multiple-sclerosis are using marijuana to combat pain and nausea.

The National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml) says people are reluctant to speak out about using the drug for medicinal purposes because they are afraid of prosecution.

Aids Foundation executive director Kevin Hague says "quite a number" of people with HIV say they benefit from marijuana use.

An Auckland University expert in clinical pharmacology, Nick Holford, hopes the American study will "lead to a more sensible use of marijuana in New Zealand and let it be used for medicinal purposes."

"I'm aware of anecdotal evidence where it is used for chemotherapy to reduce vomiting, and some patients have received pain relief from it. There are far more harmful drugs being prescribes."

He says the US report will probably be ignored by politicians because it deals with an illegal drug.

Norml spokesman Chris Fowlie also fears the study will gain little support, pointing to the recent debate on the mental health effects of cannabis.

"Both [studies] were started by Governments with the deliberate attempt to find the worst they could ... but ended up showing that cannabis is not harmful and can be beneficial to some people."

The Government signalled recently that it would not relax laws on marijuana use.