$8.7M med marijuana program shows promise

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- An $8.7 million California university program running out of money amid a fiscal crisis shows medical marijuana's promise and should continue, researchers say.

The state-funded program, which sponsored 14 University of California studies, showed cannabis can reduce muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis patients and pain caused by a damaged or abnormally functioning nervous system, the researchers said, citing studies published in and submitted to scientific journals.

A University of California, San Francisco, study found 52 percent of HIV patients experienced significant pain relief after smoking marijuana, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"I think that clearly cannabis has benefits," Dr. Donald Abrams, a San Francisco oncologist who led the human immunodeficiency virus study, told the newspaper.

"This substance has been a medicine for 2,700 years; it only hasn't been a medicine for 70," he said.

Dr. Igor Grant, a University of California, San Diego, neuropsychiatrist who runs the state's 10-year-old Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, called the pain studies "pretty convincing" and urged Washington to pay for further clinical research.

California, with a projected $20.7 billion deficit for the fiscal year beginning in July, has "no state money" to keep its medical marijuana program going, Democratic state Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco told the newspaper.