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.

[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."

[susieq_13]

Legalize it! Go after the crack heads and drunks.

[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!

[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.

[bks59]

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

[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.

[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

[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

[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.

[fitedafuture]

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

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[fitedafuture]

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

[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

[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.

[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!

[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...