|
theFlash
recluse
Registered: 12/18/07
Posts: 19
Last seen: 14 years, 9 months
|
Congress To Holder: Let UMASS Grow Pot
#9755224 - 02/07/09 02:41 PM (15 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/06/congress-to-holder-let-um_n_164665.html
Congress To Holder: Let UMASS Grow Pot
February 6, 2009 12:44 PM
A bipartisan group of sixteen members of Congress sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to allow the University of Massachusetts to grow its own marijuana for medical research.
Marijuana used for research, and that distributed to patients in a closed federal program, is currently grown exclusively by the University of Mississippi. Patients who have smoked it and researchers who have tried to work with it say it's total swag (very low quality).
For eight years, UMASS Professor Lyle Craker has been fighting with the Drug Enforcement Administration to get a license to cultivate his own medical pot.
In February 2007 Craker looked to have won, when DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner ruled that his request was "in the public interest" and called on the agency to license him.
In a last-minute Bush Administration order, however, the DEA reversed Bittner's ruling and refused Craker the license, citing evidence that hadn't been presented during the initial hearing.
The letter from members of Congress encourages Holder "swiftly to amend or withdraw" the decision and allow Craker to rebut the new DEA evidence.
Forty-five members of the House, along with Massachusetts Sens. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, as well as the Lymphoma Foundation of America, the National Association for Public Health Policy, and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation have all written the DEA in support of Craker's efforts.
Craker's advocates say that granting the license to do research would place science ahead of politics.
Meanwhile, the Washington Times reported Thursday that raids on medical marijuana clubs in California ordered by Bush administration holdovers have continued, despite President Obama's campaign pledge to end them.
"The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro told the Times.
During the campaign, Obama said that the "basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate."
Medical marijuana research advocates are optimistic. "Given President Obama's commitment to end federal enforcement in medical marijuana states, it stands to reason that he would be in favor of expanded research into this important medication," said Caren Woodson, director of government affairs with Americans for Safe Access, which lobbies on behalf of medical marijuana.
|
clover606
Stranger
Registered: 08/13/07
Posts: 656
Last seen: 10 years, 6 months
|
Re: Congress To Holder: Let UMASS Grow Pot [Re: theFlash]
#9755333 - 02/07/09 03:14 PM (15 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Quote:
In February 2007 Craker looked to have won, when DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner ruled that his request was "in the public interest" and called on the agency to license him.
unfortunatly the DEA rarely heeds the advice of their own judges, usually because the judge finds through science they have been wrong, and dont want to be embarrassed. example: in the mid 70s a DEA judge ruled that marijuana is less harmful than many of the foods people eat daily, and that the laws should reflect the harm caused by it. it was ignored and covered up.
-------------------- grassman said: I remember being in DARE when i was much younger and some of the stories they would tell you are not only ridiculous, but completely untrue. One story was that a woman was on LSD and thought her infant was a turkey so she baked it in the oven. Now I look back and think thats hilarious, but at the time I guess it scared me.
|
Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
|
Re: Congress To Holder: Let UMASS Grow Pot [Re: clover606]
#9755453 - 02/07/09 03:39 PM (15 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
That's because they're addicted to the power and latitude they've gained these past few decades. Someone needs to put a muzzle on these guys.
|
neopet nub
Stranger
Registered: 11/29/08
Posts: 2,408
Last seen: 13 years, 1 month
|
Re: Congress To Holder: Let UMASS Grow Pot [Re: Le_Canard]
#9756457 - 02/07/09 07:09 PM (15 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
They need more power. And what better way is there to gain power other than to declare 'war' against the widest used illicit drug.
-------------------- Ego death from weed!
|
|