Medical Marijuana Advocates Sue Feds

Citing New HIV Study, Group Contests FDA's Claim That Pot Has No Medical Value

(AP)  Armed with a new study that showed smoking marijuana eased pain in some HIV patients, medical marijuana advocates launched their latest attempt to decriminalize the drug by suing the federal government Wednesday over its claim that pot has no medical value.

The lawsuit filed in federal court by Americans for Safe Access accuses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of engaging in "arbitrary and unlawful behavior" that prevents "sick and dying persons from seeking to obtain medicine that could provide them needed, and often lifesaving relief."

The Oakland-based advocacy group wants a judge to force the department and the Food and Drug Administration to stop giving out information that casts doubt on the efficacy of marijuana in treating various illnesses.

The lawsuit differs from previous legal efforts to decriminalize marijuana because it seeks to get a federal agency simply to acknowledge that pot can help reduce the symptoms of some conditions.

The change would make it easier for states to develop their own medical marijuana policies, said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access. In the past, supporters of medical marijuana have focused on getting the government to stop classifying marijuana as an illegal drug.

"We are not asking the federal government to change what it does about medical marijuana, we are asking them to change what they say about it," Elford said.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a telephone call seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Besides discouraging people who might benefit from smoking pot, the agency's position bolsters the Drug Enforcement Agency's attempts to crack down on medical marijuana use in states where the practice is legal, he said.

California is one of 11 states where marijuana use is legal for people with a doctor's recommendation. But because the DEA considers pot illegal patients can still be arrested and prosecuted by federal authorities.

Jacqueline Patterson, 28, who moved to California from Missouri so she could get marijuana for a severe stutter associated with her cerebral palsy, said the government's insistence that pot has no medical benefits puts an unnecessary burden on people who get relief from using it.

"It really creates a dual stigmatization in the states that have no protections," Patterson said. "Not only do I have this profoundly humiliating disability, I smoked pot, and my family has been taught the same addictive narcotic story that I had been."

Last week, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco reported in the journal Neurology that a test involving 50 HIV patients showed that those who smoked pot experienced much less pain than those given placebos.

Americans for Safe Access said in the lawsuit that Health and Human Services has rejected its requests to retract the assertion that cannabis "has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States," a position the agency has advertised since 2001.

Countering that statement by petitioning the government and distributing evidence that marijuana eases the symptoms of cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV and other conditions has cost Americans for Safe Access more than $100,000, the group said in its suit.

Since California voters approved medical marijuana use in 1996, 10 other states have adopted measures protecting qualified patients from state prosecution. They are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

[jimbo505]

Just let them be!

[condumism]

The USA: land of the most restrictions than any so-called free country on earth.

[zootallures2]

People who use alcohol like to fight, people who smoke marijuana don't. It's hard enough for governments to motivate drunken rednecks to go to war, you wanna make it even harder with a population of potheads? Bush would have to thermite a whole state or blame a big hemp burning on terrorists then. Plus, maybe they are planning a back door draft for the teminally ill? The slogan will be "Why go alone when you can take a terrorist with you." I'm a regular silicon valley salesman or a future Karl Rove, ain't I?

[alimech]

I have watched my friend sit down to eat...and have to leave the table after a few bites. Between the disease and the chemotherapy, the pain and the nausea, he has found that a few hits will allow him to work through the pain and nausea. Is he a pothead? I don't think so. He was maybe 6 months from a 6 figure income with an international company when he got sick. When he explained to his employer that the medications made him too ill to work everyday, they actually suggested that he stop the meds. Doing that would have serious after affects...death, for one. Sometimes his medications' side effects prevents him from leaving his apartment, even to walk his dog or go to the store to buy food. He's tried legal pills for nausea and etc, and they only contribute to the lethargy and and fatigue of his illness and other meds.

And if the Feds had their way, they would arrest him and put him in jail, and I doubt very seriously that the FEDS would continue his "legal medications", much less his marijuana. Talk about Catch 22.

Any suggestion that the Feds decriminalize marijuana in states where medical use is legal, brings about screams and hollers form the DEA.

Oh well, he'll probably be dead in a few years if he's lucky.....and he's only 41.

[gunownerdan]

Like alcohol prohibition of the 1920's, today's marijuana prohibition causes MORE crime, MORE violence, and even MORE gun control.
Marijuana is America's #1 cash crop and it has been illegal for over 60 years. This means that 100% of the billions in profits goes directly into the hands of drug gangs and drug dealers.
Cops say LEGALIZE AND REGULATE MARIJUANA:
http://www.leap.cc
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

[linfinster]

Sad story Ali. Good point condumism. I'm almost completely for leagalizing it but I just can't say that it wouldn't have serious social side effects. I don't want the school bus driver stoned and picking up my child. How the heck could we afford to create a whole new governmental strategy? Health issues, the list goes on. It isn't cut and dry .. no pun intended .. maybe.

In My humble opinion there is one big reason why the government won't decriminalize/legalize marijuana. They can't figure out how to get it off of the street corner so they can be the ones to make all the profits from it. After all there is a pill that is given to cancer patients thats main ingredient is a chemical derived from marijuana.I have a friend that was given them to combat the nausea from chemo. Now I'm sure that the Fed doesn't go arrest the drug companys who manufacture these meds...so what makes them any difference from ANYONE else that uses marijuana,regardless of the reason?

[bildooreilly]

Pot is one of the biggest threats to the nation ever, not only doesn't help with tons of different medical problems alleviating the need for expensive pharmaceutical poisons, it also leads to people thinking for themselves. If weed were legalized before you know it people would be staying at home with their families, before you know it they'd be growing their own vegetables too, and we wouldn't need United Fruit Company, Budweiser, Big Pharma, or Big Gubberment.

[gunownerdan]

Why is marijuana still illegal?

- Legalization would endanger billions of dollars
in prison and law enforcement spending, thousands of jobs would be at stake.
- It is useful in society to have some laws which virtually everybody breaks - that way undesirables can be arrested at will.
- Legal drugs would interfere with the existing pharmaceutical industry.
- Fully legal hemp would interfere with existing paper, rope, clothing and other industries.
- The war on drugs provides a convenient cover under which to project U.S. influence into many countries, particularly in South America and South Asia.
- The war on drugs is a critical revenue source for the prison industry, the CIA, and the DEA.

[anopinion1]

In My humble opinion there is one big reason why the government won't decriminalize/legalize marijuana. They can't figure out how to get it off of the street corner so they can be the ones to make all the profits from it.Posted by WVSMOKER at 11:42 PM : Feb 21, 2007

Its simple fool....they just need to undercut all of the drug dealers and put a few scientists to works grow stickiest chronic buds ever...
who would pass up better bud at a cheaper price...

What they need to do is find a way to test how high someone is, like a breathalizer....once they can do this and ban people from driving and going to work high it will be legalizied...

would you rather have an alcholoic working for you or a pothead????? which person do you think be healthier overall????

[anopinion1]

GunOwnerDan

good point their to

this would free up sooooo much prison space its not even funny...
not to mention all of the time law enforcment is wasting looking for pot trafficers.

[anopinion1]

no proven medical benefits?????

haha its the best cure for a hangover / nausea ever..

it would keep people from getting into trouble.. yea yea we would be even fatter because we would be even more entertained by television but who cares...

[grumpas]

The war on illegal drugs is just like Prohibition! It was a complete waste of tax dollars! It never does any good to try and regulate human behavior. It never works! You would think the government would have figured it out by this time. They might as well make it all legal and tax it to death like they do cigarettes and alcohol!

[antoniof123]

Once again I see how we were lied to small government less taxes and what did they do they have made it harder for the sick to get something that I know works. So tell me again why it is illegal. Because the thugs who send money to the GOP want it that way.

[mythoughts3]

The people who use pot medically, use it to relieve pain and suffering. Their not PARTYING DOWN. In probably most cases their DIEING.
These people aren't hurting anyone-just trying not to hurt themselves.
If anything cigarettes should be ILLEGAL and banned, for look at the horrible things it does to your body. But it's OK to smoke that GARBAGE and KILL all the people around you while you do.
If you want to get real technical you should arrest all cigarette smokers for attemped MURDER

[fitedafuture]

great point mythoughs,the federal government themselves fund and research marijuana for medicinal purposes., talk about putting ur foot in your mouth..........

[fitedafuture]

"The war on drugs way be well intentioned but it falls flat when you start to mention an overcrowded prison where a rapist gets paroled to make room for a dude who has sold a pound of weed,to me thats the crime,heres to good people doing time." Nick Hexum.

[bekah1974]

I have Crohn's Disease and all I wanna say is that if it weren't for pot I would never eat because eating hurts,and when you hurt you have no desire to eat .If the Government could figure out a way to control and tax it,you can bet it would be legal.And you can bet too that if it were one of them or their loved ones using pot for medical purposes it would be ok.But us common folk will end up in jail sooner or later.

[mythoughts3]

The people who use pot for pain and suffering is just that. Their not PARTYING DOWN. Most likely they are going to die.
If anything cigarettes should be illegal and banned. People that smoke cigarettes KNOW it can kill them and the people around them.
If anything people that smoke cigarttes should be arrested for attemped murder for doing so around people that don't smoke and choose not to DIE from this self enflicted habit.
Leave the sick and suffering alone, not all the pill pushing doctors can help all the time.

[fitedafuture]

NORML the National organizaton for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws is making great progress in the Senate to push for Legalization.But you are correct sires the goverment will find a way to tax it and distribute it as a cash crop.i.e.cigarette and beer tarriffs.

[anopinion1]

like i said if they can make some sort of a breathalizer for weed to tell how high someone is then they may make it legal..
their worry is people driving high..(which is dumb because people would no longer speed they will be content driving 55 in a 55)
and government jobs where people could go to work high.

[fitedafuture]

perhaps Bob Marley said it best "when you smoke herb, you see the system in front of you"...

[mohimer1]

the number 1 killer in the world today is stress,the best stress relief-is smoking pot.big brother always takes the fun out things.

[anopinion1]

well said mohimer

also i have never seen 2 really baked people get into a fight..

but i have seen many really drunk people

[supercop144]

Most header cannot even scrape enough money to buy a qaurter bag. How are they going to buy the expensive clothes and shoes made from what you say is the easy cultivation and processing of hemp

[mrassekh]

"I'm almost completely for leagalizing it but I just can't say that it wouldn't have serious social side effects. I don't want the school bus driver stoned and picking up my child."
Posted by Linfinster at 10:28 PM : Feb 21, 2007

Alcohol is legal and a school bus driver can't pick up kids if he's been drinking; there's no reason to assume that he'll be allowed to drive a school bus while stoned either.

[bks59]

Ok the real reason MJ stays illegal, the distillerys like it that way, no competition, enough said.

[bks59]

And there are no recorded cases known of somebody dying from marijuan poisoning, however there are lots of cases of individuals dying from alchohol poisoning. Drink a quart of 100 proof alcohol in several hours, achieve a blood alcohol level of .4% and greater and the body's organs start shutting down, enough said.

[gunownerdan]

Cops Say LEGALIZE MARIJUANA
http://www.leap.cc
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Marijuana has been illegal in America for over 70 years and today it is the #1 cash crop in the whole nation. The billions of dollars in profits from the prohibited sale of marijuana goes straight into the hands of drug gangs and drug dealers which creates MORE CRIME, MORE VIOLENCE, and even MORE GUN CONTROL as a result of the increase in crime and violence! The madness must end!

[susieq_13]

Legalize it! Go after the crack heads and drunks.

[pakaal]

Even the DEA agrees:

On September 6, 1988, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled:
"Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known....[T]he provisions of the [Controlled Substances] Act permit and require the transfer of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance."