Pubdate: Wed, 14 Feb 2007
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Page: A8
Copyright: 2007 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Note: Does not publish letters from outside its circulation area.
Author: Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureau
Note: The 87-page opinion is at http://www.maps.org/ALJfindings.PDF
ALERT: Increase Medicinal Marijuana Research 
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0342.html
Cited: ACLU Drug Law Reform Project 
http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/gen/10831res20051128.html
Cited: The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies 
http://www.maps.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Lyle+Craker (Lyle Craker)

PROF GETS A BOOST IN BID TO GROW POT

Judge's Ruling Could Benefit Patients If U.S. Agrees to Legal Crop 
for Medical Research.

Medical researchers need more marijuana sources, because government 
supplies aren't meeting scientific demand, a federal judge has ruled.

In an emphatic but nonbinding opinion, the Drug Enforcement 
Administration's own judge is recommending that a University of 
Massachusetts professor be allowed to grow a legal pot crop. The real 
winners could be those suffering from painful and wasting diseases, 
proponents believe.

"The existing supply of marijuana is not adequate," Administrative 
Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner ruled.

Researchers contend that the federal government's 12-acre marijuana 
plot at the University of Mississippi provides neither the quantity 
nor quality that scientists need. Bittner didn't embrace those 
criticisms but agreed the system for producing and distributing 
research pot is flawed.

"Competition in the manufacture of marijuana for research purposes is 
inadequate," she determined.

The judge further concluded that there is "minimal risk of diversion" 
from a new marijuana source. Making additional supplies available, 
she said, "would be in the public interest."

The DEA isn't required to follow Bittner's 88-page opinion, and the 
Bush administration's anti-drug stance makes it unlikely that the 
grass-growing rules will loosen. Both sides now can file further 
information before DEA administrators make their ruling.

"We could still be months away from a final decision," DEA spokesman 
Garrison Courtney said Tuesday, adding, "We're going to take the 
judge's opinion into consideration."

Still, the ruling is resonating in labs and with civil libertarians.

"(The) ruling is an important step toward allowing medical marijuana 
patients to get their medicine from a pharmacy just like everyone 
else," said Allen Hopper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Based in Santa Cruz, the ACLU's Drug Law Reform Project has been 
representing University of Massachusetts scientist Lyle Craker. Since 
2001, Craker has confronted numerous bureaucratic and legal obstacles 
in his request for permission to grow research-grade marijuana.

An agronomist, Craker was asked by a five-member group called the 
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies to grow bulk 
marijuana. The group wants to research such areas as developing 
vaporizers that can efficiently deliver pot smoke.

"This ruling is a victory for science, medicine and the public good," 
Craker said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake