At its policy-setting annual meeting starting here Sunday, the AMA also is being asked to endorse a moratorium on executions nationwide, although it rejected a similar proposal last year. The measures are among more than 250 reports, resolutions and proposals conference delegates are asking the nation's largest group of doctors to approve.

Whether the historically cautious group will take a more activist role at its five-day meeting remains to be seen as the group struggles for effectiveness amid a worrisome slide in membership. The challenge is to appeal to physicians with divergent political views while at the same time tackling issues relevant to patients.

``They don't want to take positions that they're concerned the public would consider not necessarily appropriate for physicians to take,'' said Dr. Jimmy Hara, a sometimes AMA member and co-president of the Los Angeles chapter of the activist group Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Desperately seeking to attract new members, the AMA is more likely than ever to stick to middle ground, Hara said.

The marijuana question is an example. The Supreme Court's May 14 ruling that it's illegal to sell or possess marijuana for medical use appears to be having little effect in the eight states with medical marijuana laws, and some have even moved to expand marijuana laws despite the ruling.

The AMA's current policy opposes use of medical marijuana but says there should be more research on the issue. But a report by an AMA council says the group should support the ``compassionate use'' of marijuana while also urging further research.

Like all proposals at the meeting, the marijuana report could be altered or withdrawn before being sent to the House of Delegates for a vote on whether to make it policy during the meeting's final three days.

The AMA enters this year's meeting leaner, in better fiscal health, and - its leaders maintain - better equipped to tackle ongoing challenges such as membership and managed care reform.

In its year 2000 financial report, the AMA reported earning $2.7 million on operations, compared with a $15 million loss in 1999. The turnaround was achieved by reducing or eliminating programs and cutting staff by 14 percent, or 188 jobs.

But the AMA lost more than 3,000 members and $4.2 million in revenue from membership dues last year, continuing a slide that began several years ago. That puts membership at 290,357, or only about one-third of the nation's 800,000-plus doctors, residents and medical students.

Ten years ago, the AMA had nearly 300,000 members, or about 40 percent of the nation's doctors.

``Membership is the most crucial area for the AMA,'' the financial report said, acknowledging that the group's effectiveness and success depends on rebuilding its ranks.

The AMA formed an advisory committee after last year's annual meeting to address the problem, and gained insight into possible remedies from a doctors' survey the committee conducted at the AMA's winter meeting in Orlando.

Comments included complaints about high dues - ranging from $420 annually for regular members to $20 for medical students. But one respondent told the group the ``biggest issue in AMA membership deterioration is public perception that AMA has become a trade union interested primarily in MD income. Many physicians would return to membership if widespread perceptions become that AMA is really 'physicians dedicated to the health of America.'''

Alternative dues packages for residents and fellows and outreach programs targeting young doctors, residents and even pre-med students are among solutions the AMA has implemented or is considering, the committee said in a report to be presented at the meeting.

Other proposals at the meeting include:

* urging the AMA to officially recommend a low-salt diet to all Americans, even those without high blood pressure, ``as an effective means of preventing the development of hypertension.''

* calling for a ban on prescription drug ads to the public to decrease drug costs and improve doctor-patient relationships.

* calling for the AMA to lobby for mandatory alcoholism screening for all drunken-driving offenders.

The health of the AMA-sponsored union, Physicians for Responsible Negotiation, also will be discussed in light of a recent Supreme Court decision preventing private-hospital doctors from organizing if they have supervisory duties.

On the Net:

American Medical Association
http://www.ama-assn.org

Source: Associated Press
Author: Lindsey Tanner, AP Medical Writer
Published: June 16, 2001
Copyright: 2001 The Associated Press

Medicinal Cannabis Research Links
http://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htm

CannabisNew Medical Marijuana Archives
http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml

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[ Post Comment ]

the last person i met who continued to take a rediculous
stand like yours, frances, was a terminal stage(wethead)
alcoholic...the lights were on but nobody was home...

[ Post Comment ]

Frances, if you continue to spend time here, I hope that some of the good information that you are receiving will make an impression, and that you will demostrate the ability to learn and to change. That is what distinguishes humans from the rest of the animal pack.

[ Post Comment ]

Even the NETHERLANDS doesn't - even the do-drugs DUTCH doctors don't (last I heard, anyways).

[ Post Comment ]

[ Post Comment ]

The warning could say: "When taken as directed, this "medicine" could cause cancer, emphysema, or weaken your immune system."

[ Post Comment ]

as usual you've proven you came to a gun fight with a knife
in hand...please keep on posting...we'll have MANDITORY drug
use in 5 years...

[ Post Comment ]

Think about it,if you prefer to eat it,then
you should be able to.Eating it has nothing to
do with smoking it. It is even availiable in
other forms that may interest you.I heard
that they have developed in a suppository.
Would you be as mad and concerned about this
if people only administered it via their butts?
But I guess maybe the False Drug Administration,
FDA,would find out it was harmful to some
sphyctological complication among heavy users.
After all,the FDA only has the best interests of the
public as their top priority! Yup "Straight and Narrow",
That's what they say about the FDA.They are said to be
one of the most honest,and influence free parts of the
government. Now I know you'll hear some say that
big pharm. companys influence the FDA,that's just
a bunch of malarky spread around by those gentle tokers,
who are just upset because they cant have their pot.

[ Post Comment ]

I ask you again: "A CIGARETTE as MEDICINE?"

[ Post Comment ]

Do you want to live in a world where someone else gets to tell you what
is good or bad for you?Do you think people are such idiots,that they need
the government to dictate what you do with your own body,in your own home?

[ Post Comment ]

I can see it now - a bank of doctors sitting in congressional hearings (recall tobacco CEOs)saying under oath - "We didn't know cigarettes would cause cancer."


[ Post Comment ]

Dan B

[ Post Comment ]

[Desperately seeking to attract new members, the AMA is more likely than ever to stick to middle ground, Hara said.]

[ Post Comment ]