US - ACLU Now in MMJ Research Dispute

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ACLU Enters Marijuana Research Dispute

WASHINGTON, DC -April 22,2005- The American Civil Liberties Union Friday challenged the Drug Enforcement Administration's refusal to allow an alternative source of research marijuana.

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The ACLU said it filed a statement with a federal administrative law judge opposing the DEA's refusal to allow University of Massachusetts Professor Lyle Craker to grow the alternative source of research-grade marijuana.

A hearing before the judge is slated to begin this summer.

The ACLU said it will host a conference Monday on "the federal government's pattern and practice of blocking scientists from conducting research on the medical benefits of marijuana, and how this obstruction of research affects the current legal debate over medical marijuana, particularly in the U.S. Supreme Court in Raich v. Ashcroft."

The Supreme Court heard argument earlier this term in the case, which challenges whether the Justice Department can ban the medical use of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.

Ten states allow some use of medical marijuana.



Source: Science Daily
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