Group takes DEA to court over claim ‘marijuana has no medicinal value’

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story

The medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) on Thursday appealed the federal government's decision to keep marijuana classified as a dangerous drug with no medicinal value.

The Drug Enforcement Administration denied a nine-year-old petition to initiate proceedings to reschedule marijuana in late June, claiming that, "marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision." The decision (PDF) was announced two weeks ago.

The petition sought to have marijuana removed from schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act and rescheduled in schedule III, IV or V. Currently, the DEA classifies marijuana as a schedule I drug: the most restrictive classification reserved for street drugs like heroin with a high potential for abuse and no real medicinal value.

"By ignoring the wealth of scientific evidence that clearly shows the therapeutic value of marijuana, the Obama Administration is playing politics at the expense of sick and dying Americans," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the notice of appeal today (PDF).
http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/CRC_Appeal_Notice.pdf


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/21/group-appeals-deas-ruling-that-marijuana-has-no-medicinal-value/

[DirkGently]

1. Good. The Schedule I-ing of marijuana is a poor joke.

[cyberpj]

34. But what will happen to all those FELONS in PRIVATE PRISONS who were put there over pot? OMG...

America's fastest rising corporate income producer will fall.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[WheelWalker]

3. This is a very appropriate approach, I think. K&R

[nosmokes]

4. As a member of ASA I am very pleased w/ this action. n/t

[Warpy]

5. Good, force those assholes to reclassify it

Suburban fear is no reason to misclassify useful drugs. That applies to nearly all the schedule I drugs. Uses might even be found for meth and PCP if we allow adequate research.

The only drugs that should be on the Schedule I list are the ones that routinely kill the people who use them once the problems associated with illegality (like cutting with toxins or no quality control on dosage) are eliminated.

Inconvenient drugs that have people clutching their pearls and wailing about the poor children should not be there.

[libmom74]

22. Don't blame suburbanites, most of the people

in my neighborhood like their MJ and are pro legalization, it's and average middle class area. I blame big pharma and the prison industrial complex.

[Warpy]

27. Suburbanites with children were the backbone of prohibition

from the 1950s on. Before then, it was more of a racial issue. It's always also been fear on the part of owners and managers that stoned workers will be slackers.

Things have been changing in the past decade, just don't think they were always like this.

[tridim]

25. Non-toxic substances should not be on any drug schedule.

At least they shouldn't be on any of the current schedules. Maybe create a new schedule that lists non-toxic, relatively safe drugs like Cannabis and Psilocybin. Alcohol would certainly not be on that list.

[jmowreader]

31. There are uses for both the drugs you named

Desoxyn (methamphetamine) is FDA approved for the treatment of ADHD and obesity.

PCP was sold as Sernylan by Parke-Davis. It is a tranquilizer; however, its side effects make it unsuitable for legitimate use. Of all the drugs that are illegal, this one really needs to be. Heroin is a more useful drug than this.

[Cool Logic]

6. Can anyone answer this...?

Why was necessary to amend the Constitution in order to prohibit the drug known as alcohol?

Given that it was, how can it be Constitutional to prohibit other drugs without going through the formal amendment process?

[Warpy]

8. Alcohol and nicotine were grandfathered in, specifically protected

It was necessary to amend the constitution to ban one of them. The amendment to allow alcohol overturned the Prohibition amendment.

Trying to ban sin just never works. It only makes sin more popular.

[Cool Logic]

11. That cannot be, for there is no mention of alcohol or tobacco in the Constitution...

And since "Grandfather" defines a condition where an old law continues to be valid when a new law is enacted, it would have to have been cited in the Constitution, to be legally valid.

[Warpy]

14. You're assuming there wasn't already a body of law concering it.

The drug war is unconstitutional, too, which is why it all had to be based on tax law at the turn of the last century.

[Cool Logic]

29. Thank you very much. The drug war is indeed un-Constitutional.

Just as the fedgov has no authority to prohibit alcohol, it has no authority to prohibit other drugs without going through the formal amendment process.

The fedgov should either abide by the 9th and 10th Amendments, or repeal them. To pretend that they do not exist is an insult to the People's intelligence and an offense to their heritage.

[blackspade]

7. K&R!

[midnight]

9. I thought we read last week that Pot does have med. value, and only big pharma. could grow it...

[theaocp]

10. Should be easy enough, considering

the Fedz grow MMJ themselves and give it to this day to patients of their own program. Admittedly, the program is no longer accepting new patients, but they're still doling the stuff out and they grow it. Fuck all narcs. They have no souls.

[Oldenuff]

16. Yep.

Very few people know that there is a Federal program.Of course,in a fit of compassion,Poppy Bush shut it down.


For the government to say it has no medical value is a lie of the highest order,but not surprising given the fact that they have bigger interests to protect.It gives me some comfort tho to know that the American public is starting to wake up to the value that it does have,and the lies can only work for those who don't know any better.

[bertman]

12. Excellent!!! Thanks for posting this, kpete. REC. nt

[whathappened]

13. fookers

there all bought and payed for by the big drug companys , its alright to fook up my liver and head with some shit they sell , but for crying out loud , don't fooken grow your meds and use them , what the fook is going on here , :wtf:

[Liberty Belle]

15. Our first legal, licensed MJ clinic opened here in San Diego--after 15 years of legal fights.

County Supervisors lost, but made zoning restrictions so tight the only place it could open was in an inland industrial park.

Unlike Venice Beach in more liberal LA County, where the doctor is "in" and the pot smells waft across the boardwalk as beachgoers stroll past the pot clinic, getting high just from inhaling.

[ZombieHorde]

17. Good. nt

[krabigirl]

18. K & R

[DeSwiss]

19. K&R

"If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own
consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on." ~Terence McKenna

[Beartracks]

20. "no accepted medical use"

Sounds utterly illogical; sort of like: "We cannot accept your application for membership because you've never been a member here."

Or, in essence: "Whoa, we can't legalize marijuana. It's an illegal substance!"

==========================

[RainDog]

21. k&r

[shanti]

23. k&r

[RainDog]

24. another kick n/t

[wildbilln864]

26. k&r! Thanks. nt

[musiclawyer]

28. Kind of like the gay marriage lawsuits.

It's the lower level and then appellate court's that will start to end this madness. Public opinion is nearly at critical mass already anyway. In Court you need to prove shit up. The Feds position is indefensible. They can prove nothing, while the proponents now have a plethora of evidence showing the medical value of cannabis. ( And I really think that Colorado and California (this time) will full on legalize and tax via the electorate in November 2012, which will just blow the door wide open....)

[RainDog]

30. ...and another kickety n/t

[RainDog]

32. this needs another good kick! :) n/t

[WheelWalker]

33. Here's a kick back