Information

Mission
Donate
Join our Temple
Contact the Temple

Public Information

Divine Law
Voluntary Reporting
Temple Ordination
Drug Abuse Mentoring
Compassionate Care Giver
Spiritual Religious Use

Legal Information

Religious Freedom
State & US Laws
Maine Medical Marijuana
International Laws
Court Case Studies
Religious Persecution
Religious Use Lawyers
 

Bush Administration Deals Eleventh Hour Blow
 To Scientific Freedom

On Eve of Obama Presidency, DEA Blocks Privately-Funded, FDA-Approved
Medical Marijuana Research

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2009

CONTACT:  Dan Berger, ACLU, (917) 602-2445

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bush administration struck a parting shot to
legitimate science today as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
refused to end the unique government monopoly over the supply of
marijuana available for Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved
research.  DEA's final ruling rejected the formal recommendation of DEA
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Mary Ellen Bittner, issued nearly two
years ago following extensive legal hearings.

"With one foot out the door, the Bush administration has once again
found time to undermine scientific freedom," said Allen Hopper,
litigation director of the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law
Reform Project.  "In stubbornly retaining the unique government monopoly
over the supply of research marijuana over the objections of DEA's own
administrative law judge, the Bush administration has effectively
blocked the proper regulatory channels that would allow the drug to
become a wholly legitimate prescription medication."

The DEA ruling constitutes a formal rejection of University of
Massachusetts at Amherst Professor Lyle Craker's petition, filed
initially June 24, 2001, to cultivate research-grade marijuana for use
by scientists in FDA-approved studies aimed at developing the drug as a
legal, prescription medication.

The ACLU and Julie Carpenter of the Washington, D.C. law firm Jenner &
Block represent Professor Craker in the proceedings.

Professor Craker's petition was rejected despite the opinion of DEA ALJ
Bittner that granting Craker a license to grow marijuana "would be in
the public interest."  Judge Bittner issued a comprehensive, 88-page
nonbinding recommendation to DEA Deputy Administrator Michele Leonhartt
on February 12, 2007, following nine days of hearings, testimony and
evidence presented by the ACLU and others on both sides of the issue.

DEA failed to take action on Judge Bittner's recommendation until now,
continuing the strategy of delay and pattern of unresponsiveness that
has characterized the process since Professor Craker first filed his
initial petition seven-and-a-half years ago.

"I am saddened that the DEA is ignoring the best interests of so many
seriously ill people who wish for scientific investigations that could
lead to development of the marijuana plant as a prescription medicine,"
said Professor Craker.  "Patients with serious illnesses deserve
legitimate research that might establish medical marijuana as a fully
legal, FDA-approved treatment. Today, that effort has been dealt a
serious blow."

Judge Bittner's recommendation was based largely on the fact that
marijuana is the only Schedule I drug that the DEA prohibits from being
produced by private laboratories for scientific research, which has
resulted in a unique government monopoly that fundamentally obstructs
appropriate research and regulatory channels. Other controlled
substances, including LSD, MDMA, heroin and cocaine, are available to
researchers from DEA-licensed private laboratories.

In contrast, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) remains
scientists' sole source of marijuana, despite the agency's repeated
refusal to make marijuana available for privately-funded, FDA-approved
studies that seek to develop smoked or vaporized marijuana into a legal,
prescription medicine.

As Judge Bittner concluded, "NIDA's system for evaluating requests for
marijuana has resulted in some researchers who hold DEA registrations
and requisite approval from [HHS and FDA] being unable to conduct their
research because NIDA has refused to provide them with marijuana. I
therefore find that the existing supply is not adequate."

Professor Craker's proposed facility to grow high-quality medical
marijuana for research purposes would be funded by the Multidisciplinary
Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a non-profit pharmaceutical
company with plans to develop marijuana into a fully legal, prescription
medication.

"The DEA and NIDA, but not the FDA, are clearly frightened of permitting
privately-funded, scientific research into the risks and benefits of the
medical uses of marijuana," said Rick Doblin, President of MAPS. "We
need the Obama Administration to reverse this egregious suppression of
scientific research that the outgoing administration so fears will
reveal inconvenient truths."

Forty-five members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Massachusetts
Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and a broad range
of scientific, medical and public health organizations have written in
support of Professor Craker, including the Lymphoma Foundation of
America, the National Association for Public Health Policy, the Multiple
Sclerosis Foundation, as well as several state medical and nurses'
associations.

Despite contradictory federal policy, 13 states have enacted legislation
protecting patients who use medical marijuana with a physician's
recommendation from prosecution under state law, and national polls
consistently find that roughly 75 percent of Americans support the use
of medical marijuana.

Judge Bittner's final recommendation in support of Professor Craker's
petition is available at:
www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/28341lgl20070212.html

The DEA's rejection of Professor Craker's petition is available at:
www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/38298lgl20090112.html

Complete background on the case, including client profiles, hearing
transcripts, a full selection of legal documents, media reports, and
letters of support from lawmakers and scientists can be found at:
www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medicalmarijuanafeature/index.html and
www.maps.org/mmj/DEAlawsuit.html