UC at San Diego gets OK for marijuana study
Associated Press
Nov. 28, 2001 09:45:00
SAN DIEGO - A California university has received final approval from the federal government for a study on medical marijuana.
Two professors of neurology at the University of California at San Diego Medical Center plan to study the effects of marijuana on patients with multiple sclerosis and those who suffer neuropathy, or nerve pain, associated with AIDS.
The studies will be the first to emerge out of the university's Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, a program created by the state Legislature in 1999.
Since California became the first state to approve medical marijuana in 1996, six other states have followed suit. Federal law, however, prohibits the sale of marijuana for medical uses.
The Drug Enforcement Administration granted the final approval Wednesday, saying it hoped to introduce some science into what has been an emotionally charged debate. The agency maintains that past studies have shown no medical benefit to smoking marijuana.
"The question of whether marijuana has any legitimate medical purpose should be determined by sound science and medicine," DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said in a statement. Original Story
| Man
gets $5,525 check for confiscated pot plants
Original
Story |
Thursday,
November 29, 2001
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| (11-29)
20:21 PST ONTARIO, Calif. (AP)
A man who says he uses marijuana for medicinal purposes received $5,525 from his insurance company after arguing that the backyard crop police ripped up was covered by his homeowner's policy. Ontario police seized the plants from David Fawcett's back yard last May. Fawcett, who said he uses marijuana everyday to treat his chronic depression, argued that the theft of trees, shrubs and other plants are covered by his policy. Fawcett, 46, recently received his check from National General. Pete Moraga, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California, said such claims are becoming more common since California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, allowing the medicinal use of marijuana with a doctor's authorization. "This is an issue that keeps coming up," Moraga said. "It has been covered by major carriers in the past but some also have chosen not to cover it." Fawcett said he used most of the money to pay off old debts -- including $1,000 he borrowed to post bail after his marijuana arrest. The San Bernardino County district attorney's office did not press charges but referred the case to the Drug Enforcement Administration to determine if Fawcett violated federal law. So far he has not been charged. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal law does not recognize the medicinal use of marijuana. |
