MEDICAL MARIJUANA: UN Report Calls for Impartial Study
The United Nations International Drug Control Board today called for an impartial scientific evaluation of the possible benefits of medical marijuana to end the politicized debate over its use. The board is launching a "Freedom From Pain" campaign to boost access to painkillers such as morphine in developing countries. Board Member Herbert Okun said, "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'" ( AP/Austin American-Statesman, 2/23). News of the recommendation, included in the U.N.'s annual report, comes on the heels of a recent plea by U.S. AIDS activists that White House Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey speed U.S. government approval of medical marijuana.
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