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A Massachusetts botanist should be allowed to grow marijuana for medical
study, a hearing officer said Monday in a ruling that would end a longtime
government requirement that all federally approved researchers get their
pot supplies from the University of Mississippi.
Because of the monopoly arrangement, in effect since 1968, "there is
currently an inadequate supply of marijuana available for research
purposes," said Mary Ellen Bittner, a Drug Enforcement Administration
administrative law judge. She said the application by Lyle Craker, a
University of Massachusetts professor of plant biology, "would be in the
public interest."
The ruling is actually only a recommendation to the DEA, which supports the
current policy. Agency spokesman Garrison Courtney said a deputy
administrator would make the final decision after reviewing arguments from
lawyers for the DEA staff and for Craker. The agency's decision could be
appealed to a federal court in Washington, D.C.
"It's going to be a hard case to win," said Anjuli Verna of the American
Civil Liberties Union's drug law reform project, which represents Craker.
She said the court could overturn a DEA veto of Bittner's ruling only if it
was found that the agency was acting arbitrarily.
Currently, all researchers on marijuana in the United States must obtain
licenses and get their drug supplies from the National Institute on Drug
Abuse, which has had an exclusive contract with the University of
Mississippi for more than 38 years.
The government and the university project overseer say they supply
high-quality marijuana, with varying potencies, to all researchers with a
legitimate need, and currently provide the drug to nearly 500 patients in
clinical trials. An exclusive contract is necessary, the DEA contends, to
prevent diversion of the "most heavily abused" of drugs in the government's
list of dangerous substances.
But the ACLU's Verna said many researchers have complained that the
Mississippi marijuana is "very low-grade, low-potency," requiring
increased
usage -- with potential health problems -- to get the desired effect.
"Research is simply stymied," Verna said. She said government-approved
researchers in other drugs, such as LSD and cocaine, can get their supplies
from a number of laboratories.
Bittner said in her ruling that the quality of the government-supplied
marijuana was "generally adequate," despite some problems. But she
said
some researchers with approved projects have been unable to obtain
marijuana because of the federal policy. She also found little risk that
marijuana grown by Craker would be diverted to illegal uses.
Craker's application, first filed in 2001, was sponsored by an organization
called the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which
proposed to fund his indoor cultivation and provide the marijuana to
federally approved researchers. Both of Massachusetts' senators, Democrats
Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, have written to the DEA in support of
Craker.
The agency turned Craker down in 2003, saying there was no need for
additional research supplies.
Pubdate: Tue, 13 Feb 2007
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: B - 8
Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: letters@sfchronicle.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Note: The 87-page opinion is at http://www.maps.org/ALJfindings.PDF
Cited: ACLU Drug Law Reform Project
http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/gen/10831res20051128.html
Cited: The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
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