U.N. Seeks Medical Marijuana Study



Pubdate: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 



Source: Associated Press 



Author: Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer 	



ubject: U.N. SEEKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA STUDY	



UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. report recommends ending the politicized debate over using 

marijuana for medical needs by conducting in-depth and impartial scientific research into its 

possible benefits for some patients.	



The report, released today by the International Drug Control Board, doesn't call for the legalization 

of marijuana or advocate loosening controls over its use, said board member Herbert S. Okun of 

the United States.	



It calls instead for serious research in the public and private sector to determine whether there are 

medicinal benefits for marijuana. 	



Only scientific evidence can end the current debate which is "characterized by ignorance, by 

emotion, by propaganda on all sides or at least certainly on the extremes of both sides," Okun told 

a news conference Monday to launch the report.	



The recommendation is highlighted in the annual report of the Vienna-based board, which is a 13-

member, quasi-judicial organization overseeing U.N. drug treaties.	



Among the other findings, the report said Europeans are the world's top users of stress-reducing 

drugs, while Americans hold the record for consuming the most performance-enhancing 

substances. 	



While the reasons for such a disparity weren't known, Okun said it may lie in cultural, lifestyle and 

other forces. 	



The aging European population has access to more extensive health care systems, which may be 

more willing to prescribe drugs to reduce aches and pains, he noted.	



The high use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Americas may be at least partly explained by 

the prevalent sense of competition there, the report indicated.	



In particular, Okun said the board was concerned about over-prescription in the United States of 

methylphenidate, sold as the drug Ritalin, to treat children with attention deficit disorder. 	



American patients are consuming 330 million daily doses of the substance compared to 65 million 

for patients in the rest of the world, the report found.	



The agency also warned that more and more North Americans are smoking heroin and said Europe 

has emerged as a producer of cannabis and synthetic drugs. Cannabis continues to be the most 

commonly abused drug in the United States, Canada and Mexico. 	



The report expressed concern about the prevalence of do-it-yourself guides on the Internet, which 

teach users how to prepare certain illegal substances.	



And it repeated its concern that painkillers such as morphine are increasingly hard to come by in 

the developing world, though they are widely available in the industrialized world about 100 times 

more available in the world's top 20 industrialized countries than in the bottom 20.	



The board, whose mission is to ensure the legal availability of drugs for medical purposes, is 

launching a campaign called "Freedom From Pain" to make such drugs more available in the 

developing world.