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 Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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 Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research 
#7428356 - 09/19/07 02:04 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/31863prs20070918.html
Washington, D.C. – A letter signed by 45 members of the U.S. House of Representatives will be delivered today to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) demanding an end to the obstruction of scientific research aimed at developing marijuana as a legal prescription medicine.
The bipartisan letter, co-sponsored by Reps. John Olver (D-MA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), urges DEA Administrator Karen Tandy to follow the February 2007 ruling of Department of Justice-appointed administrative law judge Mary Ellen Bittner, which found that it would be “in the public interest” for the DEA to grant a license to University of Massachusetts professor Lyle Craker to cultivate research-grade marijuana to be used in Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved studies. Judge Bittner’s ruling is non-binding and DEA has no deadline to decide whether to accept or reject it.
"For the DEA, delay is victory. For patients, delay may be the difference between life and death," said Allen Hopper, Litigation Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Drug Law Reform Project, which has represented Craker since 2005. "It is encouraging to see growing political will to overcome DEA's inappropriate elevation of drug war politics over science and the public good."
Earlier this summer, DEA's handling of Craker's application was the subject of intense congressional scrutiny. During a hearing before the U.S House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) asked DEA Deputy Administrator Joseph T. Rannazzisi a series of questions about the case, expressed disapproval at DEA's delay, and insisted that the agency commit to make a decision before the end of President Bush's term.
“The DEA is ignoring the vast scientific evidence that clearly shows medicinal use of marijuana benefits patients who are extremely ill,” said Congressman Nadler today. “When it comes to providing the best treatment options to sick Americans, we should trust doctors and medical researchers and not federal bureaucrats.”
Professor Craker submitted his initial application to DEA in June 2001. Craker plans to establish the nation’s first privately funded facility for the production of research-grade marijuana. Craker would cultivate research material for use by other scientists in clinical trials to determine whether marijuana meets FDA standards for medical safety and efficacy.
Despite strong interest, FDA trials have yet to be conducted. Since 1968, the federal government's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has maintained a monopoly on the supply of research marijuana and uses that monopoly to obstruct legitimate, privately funded research. Judge Bittner found that NIDA has repeatedly refused to supply marijuana for FDA-approved studies that aim to develop marijuana as a prescription medicine.
In contrast, all other controlled substances, including LSD, heroin and MDMA (Ecstasy), are available to researchers from multiple private manufacturers. NIDA's marijuana monopoly persists despite the fact that federal law requires adequate competition in the production of Schedule I drugs, such as marijuana, to ensure an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legal research. DEA protects NIDA's monopoly by refusing to license other suppliers, such as Professor Craker, according to the ACLU.
"Patients, scientists, and researchers are caught in a Catch-22," said Professor Craker, who is the director of the Medicinal Plant Program in the Department of Plant, Insect and Soil Sciences at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "DEA continues to arrest patients on the basis that marijuana is not approved by FDA, while simultaneously obstructing the very research that would be required for FDA to approve marijuana as a medicine."
In addition to Congress, a broad array of organizations has also written to DEA in support of Craker's application. These organizations include the National Association for Public Health Policy, the National Lawyers Guild, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Lymphoma Foundation of America, the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, and several religious denominations such as the United Methodist Church and the U.S. Presbyterian Church. In addition, Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy have previously written to DEA in support of Craker's application.
Craker’s applications for regulatory approval, legal efforts, and proposed facility are sponsored by MAPS, a non-profit pharmaceutical company that plans to design, fund, and obtain government approval for the clinical trials necessary to determine whether marijuana meets FDA requirements for medical safety and efficacy. MAPS teamed with Craker after NIDA refused to supply marijuana to two of its FDA-approved protocols.
"Scientific evaluations of medical marijuana are needed now more than ever," said Rick Doblin, Ph.D., the founder and president of MAPS, whose Harvard dissertation evaluated potential regulatory mechanisms for marijuana if it gains FDA approval. "Why is DEA going to such lengths to stop Professor Craker? DEA knows that if FDA has the opportunity to evaluate marijuana, it would likely approve it for medical use."
Today’s U.S. House of Representatives’ letter can be found online at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/31861leg20070918.html
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Brainiac
Rogue Scientist
Registered: 04/29/06
Posts: 13,259
Loc: 與您的女朋 
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7428439 - 09/19/07 02:24 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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 Fair is Fair 
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 Random Patterns
Ranting soapboxspecialist
Registered: 05/08/07
Posts: 80
Loc: A mental paradox
Last seen: 16 years, 4 months
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7428459 - 09/19/07 02:28 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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so...much..buracreacy
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my mind is the canvas, where's the paint?
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mushroomdelirium
Electric SexMonkey
Registered: 02/17/07
Posts: 97
Last seen: 15 years, 2 months
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7428579 - 09/19/07 02:56 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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it's about time
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TTT
Cultivate the inside
Registered: 08/07/06
Posts: 4,340
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7428874 - 09/19/07 04:11 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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stew248
Stranger
Registered: 09/28/02
Posts: 1,730
Last seen: 6 years, 9 months
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7428970 - 09/19/07 04:44 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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45 remembers out of 400 and some? I don't think this will make a difference...
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Nephlyte
Misfortunate One
Registered: 10/11/05
Posts: 1,025
Loc: South Texas
Last seen: 13 years, 7 months
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: stew248]
#7428986 - 09/19/07 04:49 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
stew248 said:
45 remembers out of 400 and some? I don't think this will make a difference...
Ya, its sad that only 45 actually signed it. But you have to think, 10 or 15 years ago you might not have gotten one signature.
There are still a shitload of representatives who aren't even as young as the baby boomers up there in congress. Slowly they'll keep dying out.
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"To do right is to know what you want. Now when you are dissatisfied with yourself it's because you are after something you don't really want. What objects are you proposing to yourself? Are they the objects you really value? If they are not, you are cheating yourself. I don't meant that if you chose to pursue the objects you most value, you will attain them; of course not. Your experience will tell you that. But success in getting after much labor what you really don't care for is the bitterest and most ridiculous failure." -George Santayana
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pabloescabar
Stranger thanyou
Registered: 05/02/07
Posts: 383
Last seen: 15 years, 5 months
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Nephlyte]
#7429635 - 09/19/07 07:28 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Go Congress! Fuck up everything and I dont care, but help strip the DEA of some of it's powers and your my hero!
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Diploid
Cuban
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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 Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7430090 - 09/19/07 09:15 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Professor Craker submitted his initial application to DEA in June 2001. Craker plans to establish the nation’s first privately funded facility for the production of research-grade marijuana.
I sure wish his name wasn't Craker. 
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Republican Values:
1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child.
3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.
4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Boom
just a tester
Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,252
Loc: Cypress Creek
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7430121 - 09/19/07 09:23 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Damn, they give LSD, heroin, and MDMA out to researchers? 
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pokermush
Waterboardingmyself toprotect America!
Registered: 09/17/06
Posts: 475
Loc: Utah
Last seen: 16 years, 1 day
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Boom]
#7430374 - 09/19/07 10:29 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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45 might not sound like a lot, but it's a lot of work to get that many. It gets noticed. I would be surprised if the DEA doesn't grant the request. (I'm not a cynical as most  )
It's really only a matter of time before it is completely legal.
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Mandark
Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 193
Loc: Poland 
Last seen: 9 years, 3 months
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: Boom]
#7431079 - 09/20/07 04:44 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Boom said:
Damn, they give LSD, heroin, and MDMA out to researchers?
Exactly, it's the first time I hear about it.
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"One might ask why tobacco is legal and marijuana not. A possible answer is suggested by the nature of the crop. Marijuana can be grown almost anywhere, with little difficulty. It might not be easily marketable by major corporations. Tobacco is quite another story." - Noam Chomsky
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FurrowedBrow
Free yourself from yourself
Registered: 10/26/06
Posts: 2,439
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Re: Members of Congress Ask DEA to Stop Obstructing Medical Marijuana Research [Re: pokermush]
#7433852 - 09/20/07 07:21 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
pokermush said:
45 might not sound like a lot, but it's a lot of work to get that many. It gets noticed. I would be surprised if the DEA doesn't grant the request. (I'm not a cynical as most )
It's really only a matter of time before it is completely legal.
That's been true since they started with the stamps. I wonder if they would make it extinct if they could. It seems to be like that's the direction they have been heading. narrowminded people stuck on believing the propaganda. Just admit it already...
Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.
- Thomas H. Huxley
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Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies - Become a member!
I prefer dangerous freedom to peaceful slavery.
~ Thomas Jefferson
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