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NewsBank, inc. - The Seattle Times - 1997 - Article with Citation
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 Column:   LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
 Headline: MEDICINAL MARIJUANA
           LOCAL RESEARCH ON EFFECTS OF MEDICINAL USE IN FINAL STAGES
 Date:     September 18, 1997        Section:    EDITORIAL

 Text:
 I commend The Times for your editorial, "Medical pot gets boost from
 federal experts" (Aug. 13), which calls on the research community to
 "respond quickly" to the recommendation made by a panel of medical
 experts of the National Institutes of Health that further scientific
 research be conducted to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of
 marijuana.
 
 
     What your readers may be interested in knowing is that Sen. Bob
 McCaslin (R-Spokane) and I introduced SB 6744 during the 1996
 legislative session which resulted in a $60,000 appropriation directed
 to the state's Board of Pharmacy for administrating clinical research
 under the controlled-substance therapeutic program, in statute since
 1979.
 
     In fact, the research, to determine the effects of medicinal
 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with patients under a physician's care, is in
v the final stages of design and planning.  It will be conducted at the
 University of Washington under the supervision of Dr. Allan Ellsworth.
 
     Dr. Ellsworth and the Board of Pharmacy are working to get approval
 from the Federal Drug Administration for the use of marijuana plants in
 the study.
 
      The 1996 supplemental budget also included a $70,000 appropriation
 to Washington State University for funding of a study to research a
 tamper-free means of cultivating, manufacturing and distributing
 effective and safe THC plants.  Unfortunately, according to its
 independent reviewers, the completed study was methodologically flawed
 and did not meet the requirements established by the Legislature.
 
     I commend our 1996 Legislature for understanding that pain and
 suffering are nonpartisan.
 Sen. Jeanne Kohl