The Food and Drug Administration, already mired in conflict over the "morning-after" contraceptive pill, is at it again. This time, its officials have announced that the FDA and other agencies of the Health and Human Services Department do not support the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

This does not bode well for those who still hope science informs government in matters of drug safety and effectiveness.

Last week's statement included the bizarre contention that "no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use."

That ignores a 1999 finding by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, that found "marijuana's active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AIDS wasting and other symptoms." Granted, the institute found rigorous testing in clinical trials still unfinished, but the only impediment barring that achievement has been politics within the FDA.

This is indeed, as marijuana advocate Bruce Mirken said, "proof that the FDA has become totally politicized," acting in lockstep with congressional leadership in the House. And it's disheartening, given the need for a national medical marijuana law that would clarify the duties and protections of prescribing physicians in states where the drug is already legal in palliative care.

National policy on health issues must be grounded in medical knowledge, not ideology.