U.S. to Review Medicinal Marijuana Ban : Health: HHS officials stress that the action does not mean its use will be approved. The Bush staff held that the drug could be harmful to some patients.

Federal health officials said Wednesday that they are reviewing a Bush Administration decision to prohibit the medical use of marijuana, but they stressed that their action does not necessarily mean the ban will be lifted.

Dr. Philip Lee, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, said that the Administration agreed to take another look at the ban after being asked to do so by several members of Congress, including Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health and the environment.

“The review is in keeping with the practices of regularly reviewing policies and procedures but does not signal a change in the current policy, nor imply that current policy will be reversed,” Lee said in a statement. One health official called the process “fairly routine.”

Nevertheless, the issue could further fuel the uproar created by Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, when she suggested in recent remarks that the question of making drugs legal deserves more study.

From 1976 until 1992, the federal government allowed a small number of individuals on a case-by-case basis to take marijuana for medicinal purposes. These included relieving the nausea and appetite loss that is often a side effect of cancer and AIDS therapy, easing muscle spasms associated with spinal cord injuries or multiple sclerosis and lessening eye pressure in those suffering from glaucoma.

But in a March, 1992, ruling, the Bush Administration discontinued the program, saying that the drug’s therapeutic value was unproven and that it could cause harm to some patients. Its use has been associated with lung ailments and other problems.

At the time, about 15 patients were taking the illegal drug under the special program and were allowed to continue. But hundreds of others who had applied for permission were denied.

William Ruzzamenti, director of congressional and public affairs for the Drug Enforcement Administration, insisted Wednesday that--despite the current review--a reversal of the 1992 decision is not likely at this time.

But Kevin Zeese, vice president and counsel for the Drug Policy Foundation, a private nonprofit education organization, urged the Clinton Administration to move quickly to end the ban.

“It’s time we stopped making criminals out of seriously ill Americans by denying them a medicine that obviously helps,” Zeese said. “The ban on medical marijuana is inconsistent with the research of marijuana’s effectiveness and inconsistent with the feelings of patients and doctors throughout the country.”

Marijuana is classified under federal law as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning that it has a high potential for abuse and has no acceptable medical uses in the United States. Nor is it considered safe for medical purposes.

Nevertheless, some studies have found a certain measure of support within the medical community for its medicinal use. A 1991 Harvard University-sponsored study, for example, found that 40% of U.S. cancer specialists surveyed recommended that their patients smoke marijuana to relieve chemotherapy-induced nausea and 48% said that they would prescribe it in certain cases if the drug were legal.

At this time, the American Cancer Society does not support marijuana use for cancer patients to relieve the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

“There are other medications just as effective that will not have the side effects of marijuana,” said a Cancer Society official.

According to the society, two forms of marijuana have been used to treat the side effects of chemotherapy: cigarettes and compounds related to the active chemical constituent of marijuana taken orally. One such compound currently available by prescription is dronabinol (Marinol), a synthetic form of the active marijuana constituent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Smoking marijuana cigarettes can result in other problems, such as lung damage, the Cancer Society official said. Furthermore, many cancer experts believe that dronabinol, the oral medication, is not as effective as other drugs or drug combinations in controlling nausea and vomiting. It is not well absorbed by some patients and can cause a “high” that “may be unpleasant for elderly patients and those inexperienced in marijuana use,” she said.

Times staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to this story.