Green | January 18, 2009 | 11 comments

DEA Quashes Medical Marijuana Reseach Project

source: http://blog.mpp.org/?p=278

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The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has rejected the decision of Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner and blocked a medical marijuana research project at the University of Massachusetts Amherst — a project considered vital if marijuana is ever to be an FDA-approved medicine. The DEA’s ruling, dated Jan. 7, was only released today.

MPP and other supporters of research reacted with outrage. “It’s no surprise that an administration that has rejected science again and again has, as one of its final acts, blocked a critical research project,” said Aaron Houston, MPP’s director of government relations. “With the new administration publicly committed to respecting scientific research and valuing data over dogma, this final act of desperation isn’t surprising, but the true victims are the millions of patients who might benefit.”

Professor Lyle Craker had applied for permission to cultivate marijuana for use in medical research. At present, marijuana for research can only be obtained through the National Institute on Drug Abuse — a government monopoly that does not exist for any other Schedule I drug. Because NIDA’s marijuana is of notoriously poor quality and has only been inconsistently available to researchers, scientists and advocates consider Dr. Craker’s project essential to the advancement of medical marijuana research.

The long and difficult process of seeking approval culminated on Feb. 12, 2007, in a ruling by Judge Bittner that Craker should be allowed to proceed. But such administrative law judge rulings are not binding on the DEA. In the nearly two years since the ruling, several small, pilot studies have shown marijuana to safely and effectively relieve nerve pain that afflicts millions suffering from HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other conditions, making more advanced research — including strains custom-tailored for various conditions, which was one of the goals of Craker and his colleagues — vital.

“Once again, science has taken a back seat to ideology in the Bush administration, with research that could benefit millions needlessly stalled,” Houston said. “They can delay progress, but they cannot stop it.”
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11 comments // DEA Quashes Medical Marijuana Reseach Project

  • JackHerer
    • 0
      JackHerer  

    • Hi. Concentrated cannabis hemp oil (Indian hemp, ganja, dagga, marijuana) can cure cancer and many other serious illnesses. Please watch Rick Simpson's "Run from the Cure" at www.phoenixtearsmovie.com. Please read my book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" online free at www.jackherer.com. It is all about the history and many uses of cannabis hemp. We can end hunger, cure cancer and reverse the Greenhouse Effect with cannabis hemp!

    • 3 years ago
  • dariusvons
    • 0
      dariusvons  

    • tha facts of mj's bennefits are all in. the studies are done... we all know it's not a problem. but we 'the people' don't have billion dollar lobyists carpooling with 'our' leaders like big pharma and the alcohol industry does... that's the problem.

    • 3 years ago
  • mram49
    • 0
      mram49  

    • As long as politicians are allowed to be swayed by the powers that be who heavily invest in prison industries it ain't gonna happen. There's just to god damned much money to be made with basic slave labor through the so called "criminal justice (JUST US) system" and as long as that continues there will be utterly no shot at legalization. Close down the private prison industry is the ONLY answer to this dilemma.

    • 3 years ago
  • damnneargenius
    • 0
      damnneargenius  

    • Houston, we have a problem.

      It just occurred to me yesterday that weed is a plant that was obviously included as part of the environment on this planet for a reason, as was the ability to create fire.

      Who is another man to stand in the way of such obvious God-like coincidence? Our greed-driven, idiot-based society is mind-boggling at times.

    • 3 years ago
  • Gargaryun
    • 0
      Gargaryun  

    • The DEA is the U.S.'s moral equivalent of Nazi Germany's Gestapo...self-serving power-mad bureaucrats answerable only to themselves, outside the Constitutionally Legal Oversight of Executive, Legislative, or Judicial Authorities...

    • 3 years ago
  • ghrey
    • 0
      ghrey  

    • I'd love for marijuana to be legal and put to good use. I wish more people could see the benefits. My own mother has rheumatoid arthritis and I love to be able to hand her a joint so that for once she could live her life pain free.

    • 3 years ago
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  

    • We can only wait until the new administration takes over and perhaps reverses these deplorable positions that the FDA has taken. But as well intentioned as Obama is, the power of the almighty money god can defeat his purpose.

    • 3 years ago
  • superfinet
    • 0
      superfinet  

    • some agencies under the direct control or budget of the States' have no use or function other than to step on the toes of the people they supposedly serve. frak them and their tight bum holes

    • 3 years ago
  • covelogibbs
    • 0
      covelogibbs  
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    • Check out the MAPS: Medical Marijuana Research site.

      MAPS' goal is to initiate and fund a serious drug development research program aimed at proving to the satisfaction of the FDA that marijuana is safe and efficacious for specific medical uses and should become a legal, FDA-approved prescription medicine.

      NIDA's monopoly fundamentally obstructs MAPS’ research aimed at developing smoked or vaporized marijuana into a prescription medicine.

    • 3 years ago
  • brad62
  • covelogibbs
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