Study required by Nevada pot law is stymied

Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2002 | 11:20 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A university medical school study of the effectiveness of medical marijuana has yet to begin more than a year after a state law called for it.

None of the medical school's physicians wants to apply to the federal government for money and the marijuana supply necessary for the study, according to Dr. David Lupan, senior associate dean for basic science and research at the medical school, the man charged with getting the study under way.

The 2001 Nevada law that set up the system for patients to qualify for medical marijuana included a section that required the study. It said the "School of Medicine shall aggressively seek and must receive approval of the program" under the federal law involving manufacture and distribution of controlled substances.

State Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, the main proponent of the study, said the reluctance of the medical school doctors is well founded. The federal government strictly controls this type of research, so one slip-up in a research program could cause the doctors involved to lose their federal certification to prescribe drugs, which is a major part of their practice, Rawson said.

Lupan told the Legislative Interim Finance Committee last week that the medical school cannot apply to the National Institutes of Health for necessary grants and the right to buy marijuana from the federal government. Only individuals can seek that money, he said.

Lupan said five people initially expressed some interest but decided against seeking the federal money for the research. He said they did not give a reason. He said he is continuing to poll the faculty to see if somebody's interest might be renewed.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, sponsored the medical marijuana bill and implied that study, inserted late in the legislative session by Rawson, was a poison pill.

"The university never asked for it and apparently has no appetite to pursue it," Giunchigliani said. Lupan said it may not have mattered anyway because of the lack of support from the federal government.

"The state can pass all the laws they want but if the federal government doesn't want to cooperate, it's impossible to get going," Lupan said.

Giunchigliani and Lupan both noted that a research project is under way at the "Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research" at the University of California at San Diego. Lupan said that study is "investigating the management of chronic pain, control of severe muscle spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis and modulation of weight loss due to HIV infection and other medical conditions."

California, not the federal government, pays for the research in that study. But the state buys its marijuana from the federal government. Lupan said he intends to ask the California researchers for advice on developing a similar project in Nevada.

When asked if Nevada might finance its own research, Rawson said, "I don't know where the money would come from." Giunchigliani said the federal government started a research program in the 1970s that included the cultivation of marijuana and distribution to 14 test subjects, but the government has never released the study results. She said seven of the participants have died but others are doing well, are working, and are not addicted to the drug. The Bush administration canceled the program but the surviving seven participants in the study are grandfathered in, so they are able to continue using marijuana. Since Nevada's medical marijuana program started in October 2001, 216 patients have received permission from the state to possess marijuana and use it to relieve pain and to treat such diseases as cancer, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. Also, 115 phys icians in Nevada have written statements saying that marijuana may help their patients.

Cecile Crowfoot, a state Agriculture Department employee who is administrator of the medical marijuana program, said Tuesday that the participating patients must renew their certificates each year. The law became effective in October 2001 and the renewals are starting to come in, she said.

Five people in the program have died and two have been arrested for illegal possession -- but the criminal charges were dropped in one case, and in the other the person was acquitted, Crowfoot said.

Crowfoot also said she has noticed a trend in the applications: young people requesting marijuana to relieve pain or muscle spasms. She said there is no requirement for the doctors' statements to specify the disease that may be involved. The Legislature may be asked to change that, she said.