cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Research Should Not Be Hampered





Medical Marijuana Research Should Not Be Hampered
Posted by CN Staff on May 22, 2007 at 07:15:36 PT
Editorial
Source: Star-Bulletin 
USA -- A federal administrative judge has recommended that a researcher be allowed to grow marijuana used in his research. Federal agencies that oppose the medical use of marijuana are in a position to hamper scientific studies by controlling the supply of marijuana to scientists, but an administrative judge had recommended that it allow a Massachusetts researcher to grow his own. The Drug Enforcement Administration should heed the advice.
Hawaii is among 11 states that have legalized the therapeutic use of cannabis by patients upon the advice of their doctors. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the federal government can prosecute anyone using marijuana for medical purposes. More than 1,000 Hawaii residents are registered by the state to grow and use the plant.The Food and Drug Administration last year announced that "no sound scientific studies" support marijuana's medical use. Actually, the National Academy of Sciences found in 1999 that marijuana is "moderately well suited" for treating nausea, vomiting and AIDS. Cannabis-based pain-relief drugs have been available to people with multiple sclerosis in Britain for two years.The National Institute on Drug Abuse has had a monopoly over federally approved marijuana since 1968 by contract with the University of Mississippi to grow it on a 12-acre patch and make it available for research. A recent study showed that smoking marijuana brought relief to AIDS patients, even though the Ole Miss pot used in the study was about one-fourth the potency of quality street marijuana.Lyle Craker, a University of Massachusetts horticulturist specializing in medicinal plants, applied to the DEA six years ago for permission to grow marijuana in a climate-controlled room. The pot would be used by a small group of scientists for research into developing vaporizers to deliver marijuana smoke to patients. He sued the DEA after being denied permission.Researchers testified in the case that the government-grown marijuana was of poor quality. Administrative Judge Mary Ellen Bittner concluded in February that its quality was "generally adequate." However, she added that "an inadequate supply" was available to researchers, that competition also was inadequate and that granting Craker's application "would be in the public interest."The prohibition against marijuana being grown in private laboratories for scientific research is an absurd policy. Laboratories licensed by the DEA are able to gain access to LSD, heroin, cocaine and MDMA, or Ecstasy, for research.The DEA is not obligated to follow Bittner's recommendation. Indeed, the Bush administration has sneered at any suggestion that marijuana can be of medical use. When a recent study affirmed that smoking marijuana is as effective as prescription drugs in reducing nerve pain of AIDS victims, the White House called it "a smoke screen" because it did not consider the health effects of inhaling smoke. It's motive for discouraging research is suspect.Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)Published: May 22, 2007Copyright: 2007 Honolulu Star-BulletinContact: letters starbulletin.comWebsite: http://www.starbulletin.com/Related Articles & Web Site:MAPShttp://www.maps.org/ FDA Dubious Over Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22957.shtmlOle Miss May Get Competition in Growing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22657.shtmlMarijuana Research a New Field at UMass?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22654.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on May 23, 2007 at 15:33:55 PT
Related Article from The Associated Press
UMass Professor Seeks To Grow Medical Marijuana***By Andrew Miga, Associated Press Writer  May 23, 2007ARLINGTON, Va. --A University of Massachusetts-Amherst professor who has waged a nearly six-year fight to convince the government to let him grow marijuana for medical research pressed his case Wednesday outside U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration offices.Horticulturist Lyle Craker said he wants to boost research into pot's potential medicinal benefits."We've looked at this as just another medicinal plant that needs to be studied," Craker, who heads the school's medicinal plant program, said at a news conference Wednesday on the sidewalk outside the DEA offices.Craker is awaiting a DEA decision on his case. DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney said in an e-mail statement that it would be "inappropriate" to comment since the matter is pending.Earlier this year, a federal administrative law judge recommended to the DEA that it grant Craker's application to grow marijuana in bulk for use by scientists in Food and Drug Administration-approved research. The nonbinding ruling said the government's supply was inadequate for medical research. It also concluded Craker's request was in the "public interest."Craker is challenging the government's monopoly on research marijuana. A lab at the University of Mississippi is the government's only marijuana growing facility. Craker's suit claimed government-grown marijuana lacks the potency medical researchers need to make important breakthroughs.DEA attorneys have defended the government's marijuana, saying its Mississippi growing center provides adequate quality and quantity for legitimate researchers across the country.Craker said his case has been hurt by DEA concerns about the drug falling into the hands of students. He said he was confident security measures could be used at UMass to prevent that from happening."They've gotten confused between recreational use and medical use," he said of the DEA. "That's what needs to be separated out. ... When the DEA understands that, they'll be probably prepared to move forward. I'm hoping to send that message today."Craker has won support from Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry as well as several other members of Congress.Flanking Craker at the news conference was Angel Raich, a California mother of two who suffers from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments. On her doctor's advice, Raich eats or smokes marijuana every couple of hours to ease her pain and bolster her appetite. She has battled in court to legally take the drug."It's really important that the DEA stop playing games with people's lives," she said.The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Raich in 2005, saying medical marijuana users and their suppliers can be prosecuted for breaching federal drug laws even if they live in states such as California, where medical marijuana is legal.Also appearing with Craker was Richard Doblin, who heads the Massachusetts-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a group that hopes to fund Craker's marijuana growing and to develop marijuana as an FDA-approved prescription medication.Craker, who in June 2001 submitted an application as a marijuana manufacturer to the DEA, said he wasn't discouraged after pursuing his case for nearly six years."We knew from the beginning it was going to be a long test," he said. "I work for a state government, working at the university, and everything is slow, everything is slow. You just have to plan on that."------On the Net:Drug Enforcement Administration: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/index.htm Copyright: 2007 Associated PressURL: http://tinyurl.com/24m78n
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on May 23, 2007 at 11:18:42 PT
Related Article from The Associated Press
UMass Professor Continues Medical Marijuana Fight 
 
 
 May 23, 2007 ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - A U-Mass Amherst professor waging a 6-year fight to get permission to grow marijuana for medical research is in Washington today.Horticulturist Lyle Craker says pot is a medicinal plant that needs to be studied to learn its benefits.He's challenging the government's monopoly on research marijuana.A Mississippi lab is the nation's only marijuana growing facility. Craker won a nonbinding favorable ruling earlier this year from a federal administrative judge and is awaiting a decision from the Drug Enforcement Administration.Craker appeared at a news conference today with supporters outside DEA offices.He hopes government officials understand that the pot he wants to cultivate won't be used for recreational purposes.The professor has won support from Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry.Copyright: 2007 The Associated Presshttp://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6558567&nav=F2DO
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on May 22, 2007 at 16:11:45 PT
Executive, Legislature, Judical All Guilty 
The DEA and the FDA, as part of the Executive are guilty. Congress for passing the politically-motivated CSA against the health, spiritual development, and safer recreation of the American public is guilty. The Supreme Court for bowing and scraping to the politicians is guilty. Furthermore, by promoting the UN Single Convention, they are guilty of harming most of the public (and the animals) on the entire planet.The more the politicians and lapdog judicial push their agenda against scientific truth, the more we will resist their folly.
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Comment #1 posted by Max Flowers on May 22, 2007 at 08:27:13 PT
DEA obfuscation
The DEA is not obligated to follow Bittner's recommendation. Indeed, the Bush administration has sneered at any suggestion that marijuana can be of medical use.And by this point, EVERYONE knows that they do this with political motives, not "health" motives. They don't care one bit about the health of Americans. They (DEA) ignore mountains of scientific evidence to the contrary from many other countries. They have no credibility whatsoever.
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