Pubdate: Wed, 14 Feb 2007
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2007 Detroit Free Press
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers
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
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Lyle+Craker (Lyle Craker)

JUDGE TELLS U.S. TO GROW MORE POT

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

In an emphatic but nonbinding opinion, the Drug Enforcement 
Administration's own judge recommended Monday 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 say.

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

Researchers say the federal government's 12-acre marijuana plot at 
the University of Mississippi provides neither the quantity nor 
quality scientists need.

They testified that the government-grown pot is too harsh and filled 
with stems and seeds.

"The material was of such poor quality, we did not deem it to be 
representative of medical cannabis," researcher Dr. Ethan Russo said.

Bittner didn't embrace those criticisms, but she agreed that the 
system for producing and distributing research marijuana is flawed.

The "competition in the manufacture of marijuana for research 
purposes is inadequate," Bittner determined. Making additional 
supplies available, she said, "would be in the public interest."

The DEA isn't required to follow Bittner's opinion, and the White 
House's antidrug stance may make it unlikely that the grass-growing 
rules will loosen. Both sides now can file further information before 
DEA administrators make their ruling, meaning a final decision may be 
months away. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake