Posted on 07/20/2004 10:50:55 PM PDT by cryptical
WASHINGTON - The government is violating federal law by obstructing medical marijuana research, scientists contend in lawsuits seeking faster action on applications to grow the drug.
In lawsuits to be filed Wednesday, researchers assert that Washington is refusing to act on legitimate research projects and delaying studies that could lead to marijuana's use as a prescription drug.
"There is an urgent need for an alternative supply of marijuana for medical research," said Lyle Craker, director of the Medicinal Plant Program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the main force behind the lawsuits.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the Health and Human Services Department, "maintains a monopoly on research marijuana. Many researchers believe that NIDA's monopoly is an obstacle to getting needed studies done on a timely basis," Craker said in a statement.
The lawsuits, which target the Drug Enforcement Administration, HHS, NIDA and the National Institutes of Health, are being filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Joining Craker in filing the suit are Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, and Valerie Corral, co-founder of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, Calif., who uses marijuana to control epileptic seizures.
"As a patient, each day brings new struggles," she said in a statement. "Instead of providing relief for critically ill Americans, our government refuses to allow the research that would free sick and dying members of our collective from living in fear of an administration that views medical assistance as criminal activity."
The case claims an unreasonable delay in acting on a three-year-old application by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to grow marijuana for federally approved researchers.
Scientists also want the government to act on a year-old application by Chemic Laboratories in Canton, Mass., to import 10 grams of marijuana from Dutch authorities for research into a device called the Volcano Vaporizer. The device potentially offers a nonsmoking way to deliver the medicinal value of marijuana.
"Every day DEA delays the applications necessary to initiate research is another day that the patients with illnesses susceptible to treatment using marijuana must either suffer otherwise remediable pain, or risk arrest to use marijuana as medicine," said the scientists behind the suits.
DEA spokesman Ed Childress said the agency won't discuss pending lawsuits.
All marijuana for research in the United States must come from a crop grown on a federally contracted farm in Mississippi. That product has been only "inconsistently available to researchers and is infamous for its low quality," the researchers contend.
ON THE NET
Drug Enforcement Administration: http://www.dea.gov
National Institute on Drug Abuse: http://www.nida.nih.gov/
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies: http://www.maps.org
University of Massachusetts-Amherst: http://www.umass.edu/
bump for later read.
Why in the world would you give permission to the Wo/Man research group in Santa Cruz...they are a far left consortium of folks that want to end all drug laws....Sorry these guys aren't gonna win and they shouldn't...science isn't about "cool man I got a headaxhe...give me toke"
UMass-Ameherst is leading this suit, do you have a problem with their research as well?
"Lyle Craker"
a great name for a pro druggie advocats ;-)
And this is a bunch of bull...believe me, if there was money to be made, our drug companies would be able to get grants, or do research overseas with their own money to "prove" it works.
I have to be cynical. Heck, some bozo was on O'Reilly last week whining that his neuropathic pain didn't go away with oxycontin, so he had to smoke pot. Duh. Oxycontin is a lousy drug for neuropathic pain. We treat nruopathies with certain anti epilepsy medicaitons, which DO work, and have been used for at least twenty years....
The problem with pot is not that it doesn't work, but that the side effects are much higher than other medications, which is why few doctors in the past used it for pain when it was legal, and few want to use it now.
Of course, for druggies who like to be high, they will find any excuse to use it.
Of course there is no money to be made, it can be grown by anybody. Drug companies are only interesting in drug that they can patent. It costs millions to run FDA trials and without patent protection there is no incentive for a drug company.
That is certainly not my experiendce after self medicating with reefer since the late 1970's. Yet virtually every prescription drug that I have ever been prescribed for a chronic problem has caused more problems than it solved and often resulted in the prescription of additional drugs to correct the problem caused by the first drug, and sometimes even the second drug and third drug. Combine that with the fact that many doctors are not up to speed on the side effects and interactions of the drugs they provide.
BTW, what side effects? Other than a bit of euphoria and the munchies, which by any standard are rather mild.
ping
For starters, disrespect towards pompous authority figures.
The gubmint ain't gonna put up with that sh*t, man! - "Respect muh authori-tay!"
Would expect this to come from socialist Amherst.
"Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, and Valerie Corral, co-founder of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana "
Talk about some wierdos!
Amherst is loaded with socialists and pot-heads.
(hanging head in shame)
I admit it...in my wild-n-wooly days, I smoked.
The EVIL weed caused me to -(sob)
Make lasagna at 2 am!
I used to "self-medicate" with reefers but I grew out of that phase.
He didn't say he had a problem with someone getting high. The medical marijuana scam is just an excuse to get high.
LOLOL!!!
God, I love this site!
They admit to being criminals. They must have terrible guilt complexes! LOL
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