Pubdate: Sat, 16 Oct 2010
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A - 7
Copyright: 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Referenced: The opinion 
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/memoranda/2010/10/14/07-17388.pdf
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Americans+for+Safe+Access
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

SUIT TO MAKE FEDS ADMIT POT'S BENEFITS REJECTED

An advocacy group's attempt to force the federal government to 
concede that marijuana could have therapeutic qualities has been 
snuffed by an appeals court.

Americans for Safe Access sued the government in 2007 under the 
Information Quality Act, a decade-old law that allows people to 
compel federal officials to correct false statements. Private 
citizens must show that a statement affects them and fails to meet an 
agency's published standards for accuracy.

The organization said its members include seriously ill people who 
have been discouraged from using marijuana by the Department of 
Health and Human Services' long-standing position, stated most 
recently in 2001, that the drug has no medical value.

The department declined to respond to the request. It said the Drug 
Enforcement Administration was still considering the issue in its 
review of Americans for Safe Access' 2002 application to reconsider 
the status of marijuana.

The DEA classifies pot as among the most dangerous drugs, with no 
legitimate use.

On Thursday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco 
said the lawsuit was premature because the government is still 
pondering the 8-year-old request. The agency has not yet taken a 
final action that can be challenged in court, the three-judge panel said.

Joseph Elford, the group's lawyer, wasn't convinced. Federal 
officials continue to insist that marijuana has no accepted medical 
use, he said, and have declared as recently as 2008 that a decision 
on the status of marijuana was imminent.

Elford said he would ask the court for a rehearing.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake