SmokeyMacPot
New Member
Lyle E. Craker, a plant and soil sciences professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, applied to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for a permit to grow marijuana in 2001. What a long, strange trip it's been.
First, the DEA told Craker that it had lost his application. Next, it told him that he did not fill out the forms correctly. And then it dispatched two DEA agents to the Amherst campus to discourage the university.
The DEA took no action on the application for almost three years, until a federal court ordered the agency to respond to Craker's application.
In December 2004, it finally rejected his application because, in part, DEA officials believe it could lead to greater illicit use of marijuana.
As we've noted in this space in the past, it cannot be easy for the federal government to admit that there might be some medicinal use of marijuana after it has been waging an unsuccessful war against marijuana and other illicit drugs for several decades.
Craker, director of the medicinal plant program in the Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences on the Amherst campus, wants a license to grow marijuana for scientific research.
His appeal of the DEA decision was heard last week by an administrative law judge at the ... DEA.
For the record, the DEA lists marijuana as the most frequently abused illicit drug in America, so it would appear that Craker and his supporters still face an uphill battle.
Craker should be allowed to participate in scientific study without government obstruction, whether he is researching goldenseal or marijuana. The administrative law judge should recommend that the DEA approve his application on the basis that his work might benefit the public.
For decades, researchers have known that marijuana relieves pain and nausea associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and other serious illnesses.
Yet, because marijuana is still listed as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act, a dangerous drug with no medicinal use, the DEA blocks study by a qualified researcher that might lead to its wider use as a safe, effective and affordable drug.
It sounds like the DEA is blowing a lot of smoke.
Source: Republican, The (MA)
Published: Monday, December 19, 2005
Copyright: 2005 The Republican
Contact: letters@repub.com
Website: MassLive.com Digital Access
First, the DEA told Craker that it had lost his application. Next, it told him that he did not fill out the forms correctly. And then it dispatched two DEA agents to the Amherst campus to discourage the university.
The DEA took no action on the application for almost three years, until a federal court ordered the agency to respond to Craker's application.
In December 2004, it finally rejected his application because, in part, DEA officials believe it could lead to greater illicit use of marijuana.
As we've noted in this space in the past, it cannot be easy for the federal government to admit that there might be some medicinal use of marijuana after it has been waging an unsuccessful war against marijuana and other illicit drugs for several decades.
Craker, director of the medicinal plant program in the Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences on the Amherst campus, wants a license to grow marijuana for scientific research.
His appeal of the DEA decision was heard last week by an administrative law judge at the ... DEA.
For the record, the DEA lists marijuana as the most frequently abused illicit drug in America, so it would appear that Craker and his supporters still face an uphill battle.
Craker should be allowed to participate in scientific study without government obstruction, whether he is researching goldenseal or marijuana. The administrative law judge should recommend that the DEA approve his application on the basis that his work might benefit the public.
For decades, researchers have known that marijuana relieves pain and nausea associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and other serious illnesses.
Yet, because marijuana is still listed as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act, a dangerous drug with no medicinal use, the DEA blocks study by a qualified researcher that might lead to its wider use as a safe, effective and affordable drug.
It sounds like the DEA is blowing a lot of smoke.
Source: Republican, The (MA)
Published: Monday, December 19, 2005
Copyright: 2005 The Republican
Contact: letters@repub.com
Website: MassLive.com Digital Access
