Pubdate: Mom, 27 Oct 2014
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2014 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

MARIJUANA BAN TO HAVE RARE HEARING IN FEDERAL COURT

Marijuana users and growers usually try to stay out of federal courts,
which strictly enforce the nationwide laws against the drug and have
rebuffed challenges to the government's classification of pot as one
of the most dangerous narcotics.

But that could change this week when a federal judge in Sacramento, in
a criminal case against seven men charged with growing marijuana on
national forest land in Trinity and Tehama counties, hears what she
has described as "new scientific and medical information" that raises
questions about the validity of the federal ban.

The Drug Enforcement Administration classifies marijuana, along with
such drugs as heroin, LSD and ecstasy, in Schedule One - substances
that have a high potential for abuse, have no currently accepted
medical use, and can be dangerous even under a doctor's supervision.
The classification amounts to a nationwide prohibition on the
possession, use or cultivation of the drug. The DEA reaffirmed
marijuana's status in 2011, and a federal appeals court in Washington,
D.C., upheld it last year.

But the hearing that starts Monday may be the first of its kind in a
criminal case since the early 1970s, shortly after Congress put
marijuana in Schedule One under the DEA's supervision, said Zenia
Gilg, the San Francisco criminal defense lawyer who filed the current
challenge.

"At that point, not a lot was known about the medicinal benefits of
marijuana," said Gilg, a member of the legal committee of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "It's about time
somebody looked at the new evidence."

That will be U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller, who granted the
hearing, scheduled for three days, over prosecutors' objections. In an
April 22 order, she said lawyers for the defendants had presented
expert declarations "showing there is new scientific and medical
information raising contested issues of fact regarding whether the
continued inclusion of marijuana as a Schedule One controlled
substance ... passes constitutional muster."

She issued the order in a case that, based on the evidence so far, has
little to do with medical marijuana - the defendants are charged with
growing a large tract of pot plants on forest land, and there's been
no indication that it was for medical use. But Gilg said that's
irrelevant if they were charged under an unconstitutional law.

As Gilg acknowledges, it will not be an easy case to win. She and her
colleagues must prove not merely that the federal law is misguided,
based on current research, but that it is entirely irrational. An
initial ruling would apply only to the current defendants, but the
impact would be broader if higher courts weighed in.

Support for Defense

The witness list includes doctors and researchers who laud marijuana's
medical benefits and say it is much less hazardous than tobacco,
alcohol and some everyday medications, and a former FBI analyst who
says the federal ban has been socially destructive. Defense lawyers
say they also are drawing support from an unlikely source - President
Obama's Justice Department, which, while defending the federal ban in
court, has advised federal prosecutors not to charge people who are
complying with their state's marijuana laws.

California, 20 other states and Washington, D.C., allow the medical
use of marijuana, and two of those states, Colorado and Washington,
have also legalized personal use.

"If marijuana is actually such a dangerous drug, the rational response
by the Department of Justice would be to increase, not decrease,
prosecution in those states," Gilg said in court papers. She also
argued that the government's state-by-state enforcement policy is
discriminatory.

The government's expert witness is Bertha Madras, a Harvard professor
of psychobiology and a former official in the Office of National Drug
Control Policy under President George W. Bush. In a court declaration,
she said marijuana "has a high potential for abuse" and is properly
classified among the most dangerous drugs.

Medical Uses Debated

Contrary to popular notions, Madras said, marijuana is addictive for
frequent users, interferes with concentration and motivation, and can
cause brain damage. Marijuana smoke contains "significant amounts of
toxic chemicals," she said. And despite "anecdotal evidence" that it
helps some patients feel better, she said, there are no valid
long-term studies that support its use as medicine - in fact, although
some of the plant's ingredients may be beneficial, "there is no such
thing as medical marijuana."

Nonsense, said Dr. Philip Denney, a defense expert witness and a
founding member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians. Despite
government restrictions on the supply of marijuana for research, he
said in a declaration, new studies have shown "remarkable promise" in
using marijuana to relieve pain and treat numerous illnesses,
including forms of hepatitis, gastrointestinal and sleep disorders,
and Alzheimer's disease.

Marijuana, Denney said, is a "nontoxic, nonlethal substance" with
little potential for abuse and no recorded cases of fatalities, in
contrast with the deaths caused by alcohol and tobacco. He said its
side effects pale in comparison with the serious illnesses that can be
caused by heavy doses of pain relievers like Tylenol and Advil and the
hallucinatory effects of the main ingredient in NyQuil and Robitussin
cough syrups.

Another defense expert, James Nolan, a chief of crime analysis and
research for the FBI during President Bill Clinton's administration,
said the main harm caused by marijuana is "its status as an illegal
substance," which has relegated much of its distribution to criminals
and cartels and ruined the lives of many of its users.

Mueller, who will weigh the conflicting testimony, is a former
Sacramento city councilwoman and federal magistrate who was appointed
to the bench by Obama in 2010. She is the first female judge in the
Eastern District, which includes Sacramento and Fresno. 
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