Medical Marijuana From Sea to Shining Sea? A Lawsuit Wants to Force Feds to Say Yes to Pot

Wow Isreal is down with it....
Another story here on current mentioned a Legislator saying something about
keeping Isreal as a friend or God would not be on OUR side.
Gotta wonder huh !

WiKiPedia says :

The legality of cannabis has been the subject of debate and controversy for decades. Cannabis is illegal to consume, use, possess, cultivate, transfer or trade in most countries. Since the beginning of widespread cannabis prohibition around the mid 20th century,[1] most countries have not re-legalized it for personal use, although more than 10 countries tolerate (or have decriminalized) its use and/or its cultivation in limited quantities. Medicinal use of cannabis is also legal in a number of countries, including Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Israel and 16 states of the United States.

Wonder how many Laws have been made and Taxpayer money has been spent
on an object that grows out of the ground ?

Cannabis should never have been made illegal. Laws against cannabis cause far more harm than the flower itself -- not that the laws against it ever had anything to do with keeping people safe in the first place -- it has to do with power, profit, and propaganda just like everything else America does.

Pot should have been legalized 50 years. Legalized and taxed like every other commodity. Just think what problems could be solved by legalization. Mind boggeling.

how many prisoners in cali are there for drug charges we can no longer afford
to send people to jail for pot.we need to concentrate on harder drugs these are the ones destroying peoples lives save the ones we can .put the violent people in jail,

God is perfect, man is not - man made whiskey but God made pot! Get the global bong ablazed so the world economy becomes debt free! Free the Weed!

People should be allowed to grow their own medicine.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/healthprofessional/page4

C'mon, Mr. President - it's time to announce Cannibination!

I do not smoke dope, but I do wish it was legal for those who do.

Free the weed!

Why is it that when I smoked the weed I had no high blood pressure and when I stopped I have it now and take 5 different meeds to control it?
My doctor thinks by me smoking it again I could be off all the BP meds.
Just legalize it and get it over with. Clear the jails of the pot pushers and put real criminals in their place like those in Wall Street.

for many eons.. This battle is weary indeed why must we fight fight fight for what we all want this blows ... fux big Pharma opps i hear helicopters.... gotta switch IPs back in a moonbeam

Norml member

http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/health-and-fitness/24406-medical-marijuana-ad...

WASHINGTON--(ENEWSPF)--May 23 - A Coalition of advocacy groups and patients filed suit in the DC Circuit Court today to compel the Obama administration to answer a 9-year-old petition to reclassify medical marijuana. The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) has never received an answer to its 2002 petition, despite a formal recommendation in 2006 from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the final arbiter in the rescheduling process. As recently as July 2010, the DEA issued a 54-page "Position on Marijuana," but failed to even mention the pending CRC petition. Plaintiffs in the case include the CRC, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), Patients Out of Time, as well as individually named patients, one of whom is listed on the CRC petition but died in 2005.

"The federal government's strategy has been delay, delay, delay," said Joe Elford, Chief Counsel of ASA and lead counsel on the writ. "It is far past time for the government to answer our rescheduling petition, but unfortunately we've been forced to go to court in order to get resolution." The writ of mandamus filed today accuses the government of unreasonable delay in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. A previous cannabis (marijuana) rescheduling petition filed in 1972 went unanswered for 22 years before being denied.

The writ argues that cannabis is not a dangerous drug and that ample evidence of its therapeutic value exists based on scientific studies in the US and around the world. "Despite numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies establishing that marijuana is effective" in treating numerous medical conditions, the government "continues to deprive seriously ill persons of this needed, and often life-saving therapy by maintaining marijuana as a Schedule I substance." The writ calls out the government for unlawfully failing to answer the petition despite an Inter-Agency Advisory issued by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006 and "almost five years after receiving a 41-page memorandum from HHS stating its scientific evaluation and recommendations."

More at link....

I totally agree with this article. There is no excuse that this petition to change the pot laws has gone on for 9 years. This is great news, but I won't get my hopes up because the health insurance industry and big pharma, just to name 2, won't go for this.

I 100% endorse the content of this article. I heard that if Ampersand were elected president, he/she would legalized weed.

Like the pharmecutical companies would ever let that happen to cut into their profits. If this does happen, you'll hear the screaming ratchet up another 50 decibels about how them thar bleeding heart liberals are destroying the world. You think letting gays get married is causing a ruckus, wait until the ditto heads hear that "dope smoking" will be RE-legalized. Why those pot heads will force your kindergarteners to light up at nap time!!!!Little Billy will be so stoned he'll kill gran ma with a butcher knife thinking he was making a sammitch!!!!The terrorists will WIN!!!!! Yup, hide the frying pans 'cause people's brains will be cooking like eggs nation wide...Uh huh. Besides, this would require the government to do the right thing, and what's the likelyhood of THAT happening?

And the response from the DEA will be

"Down on your knees, down on your knee's, get the fuck down you dirty fucking hippie"

Somebody got a video for that statement? I'm to lazy to find one right now.

Prohibition of MJ results in the funding of criminal organizations...... facilitates access to minors...... imprisons good nonviolent people..... and makes a mockery of our society as a just society....... Our politician's lake of backbone and vision is so pathetic as to be considered criminal..... Obama says he doesn't want to expand his political capital on this issue..... excuse me but what can be more important???? Imprisoning wall street???? well maybe?

Let's treat Pot as we do alcohol and many many many problems will be solved.

I can't believe mj is still illegal after all this time. It's a plant! The government would see a lot more money from sales tax revenues on selling this item than from fines imposed on people caught with it. Smarten up, U.S. government and go NORML!