Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jan 2013
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR)
Copyright: 2013 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/25

COURT REJECTS BID TO RECLASSIFY 'POT'

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected a petition to
reclassify marijuana from its current federal status as a dangerous
drug with no accepted medical use.

The appeals court panel denied the bid from three medical-marijuana
groups, including Americans for Safe Access, and several individuals.
In 2011, the Drug Enforcement Administration rejected a petition by
medical marijuana advocates to change the classification.

In his majority opinion Tuesday, Judge Harry T. Edwards wrote that the
question wasn't whether marijuana could have some medical benefits,
but rather whether the DEA's decision was "arbitrary and capricious."
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia panel concluded that
the DEA action survived a review under that standard.

Edwards, an appointee of Democratic President Jimmy Carter, was joined
by Judge Merrick B. Garland, an appointee of Democratic President Bill
Clinton. The third judge on the panel, Karen LeCraft Henderson, an
appointee of Republican President George H.W. Bush, wrote that none of
the petitioners was in a legal position to challenge the government's
stance and that the case should have been dismissed. The other two
judges concluded that at least one of the people bringing the suit had
standing to challenge the DEA's action.

Marijuana is classified as a controlled substance, categorized as
having a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical
use.
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