Marijuana and Cannabis News

Marijuana Advocates Mount Challenge To Schedule I Designation

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ in Legislation, Medical, News

Monday, October 15, 2012 at 9:52 am

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Will Hear Oral Arguments Tuesday

DPA Statement: Feds' Claim of "No Medical Use" Ignores Science

For the first time in 20 years, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral arguments on Tuesday, October 16, in a case challenging the Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to designate marijuana as a Schedule I substance. Schedule I is the most restrictive category for controlled substances, including those drugs defined as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.

This case began more than a decade ago, when the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) filed a petition to remove marijuana from Schedule I.

ASA

Joe Elford, Americans for Safe Access: "This is a rare opportunity for patients to confront politically motivated decision-making with scientific evidence of marijuana's medical efficacy"

"Medical marijuana patients are finally getting their day in court," Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), told The Guardian. "This is a rare opportunity for patients to confront politically motivated decision-making with scientific evidence of marijuana's medical efficacy."

"At the heart of this issue of the scheduling of marijuana and the federal government's refusal to look at the research that's out there every day is a bigger gap growing between patients and doctors and the federal government," said Steph Sherer, executive director of ASA.

The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of organizations and individual patients, including ASA, the Coalition to Reschedule Cannabis, and Patients out of Time. Since California became the first U.S. state to pass and implement a medical marijuana law in 1996, 16 other states and the District of Columbia have followed suit by passing legislation or voter initiatives that allow certain patients to legally access marijuana.

The claim of no medical value contradicts the growing body of research suggesting the contrary.

"There is a plethora of scientific evidence establishing marijuana's medical safety and efficacy," said Jasmine Tyler, acting director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "However, when it comes to marijuana and the federal government, politics routinely trumps science."

Every independent commission to examine marijuana policy has concluded that its harms have been greatly exaggerated - from the 1944 LaGuardia Report, to President Nixon's 1972 Schaffer Commission report, to the Institute of Medicine's congressionally-mandated 1999 report.

"This case is yet another opportunity for the federal government to acknowledge what patient, doctors, researchers and scientists have been telling us for years: marijuana has therapeutic and medicinal benefits," Tyler said. "Considering that three-quarters of Americans support medical marijuana, the Obama administration should have the courage and common sense to let science resolve the controversy over marijuana's medical uses."

Tags: rescheduling, schedule i, u.s. court of appeals

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9 comments

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Peace

This will be amazing if it gets removed from the DEA Schedule I category and entirely off the list. It would be phenomenal to allow the DEA to use it's $2 billion annual budget to go after the real drugs, such as bath salts, methamphetamine, heroin, qualudes, which are the nasty Schedule I drugs the DEA should go after.

It's unbelievable that in this day and age, with the huge amount of literature and research on THC and marijuana that it is still on Schedule I. Even cocaine and PCP are on Schedule II for crying out loud! It's a crazy, antiquated system.

We can't afford to divert our precious resources to seek out petty marijuana growing and distribution. This is modern day prohibition and it really needs to end. To not allow it to be researched, which is what Schedule I does is outrageous. This has to end.

The first logical step is to get marijuana out of the Schedule classification system. Treat it like alcohol or tobacco. Those are much worse drugs with much higher abuse and addiction potential and much worse health effects. For example, alcohol causes Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and other issues like cirrhosis, and loss of inhibition, aggression, hang-over, etc. Nicotine causes the most addiction and the tobacco smoke is deadly and causes cancer. Both of these are not even on the Schedule system!

Marijuana has demonstrated anti-cancer activity in multiple studies. It has amazing properties and should clearly be researched. Having it on Schedule I doesn't allow medical application or any use, except only its persecution...hence jobs for law enforcement, while creating criminals out of everyone. Please, we're better than this!

Vet1948

My fingers are crossed,I hope we get the truth to light.

dupreesdiamond

The schedule I designation came at a time when cannabis was listed in the National Formulary, with its attendant uses, preparation and recommended dosages. Whatever branch of the federal government ignored it then, can surely ignore it now.

dropinghammer

Well, unless they ban them from using any medical evidence in court because it is a schedule 1 controlled substance....

Curtisjoseph

1 Like

I've been anticipating this case for some time now. What kind of coverage can we expect? I'm really interested to hear the arguments presented. Do you think any of the cancer research will be brought up? I mean the research showing aptosis of cancer cells, not the more commonly known appetite stimulant info. I think that is the nail in the coffin for the DEA, if it is used well. I can't see the DEA having any valid arguments to combat that.

claygooding

The first hurdle is to show that the advocates are being harmed by the DEA's refusal to re-classify marijuana and if they cannot show that 800,000 arrests yearly and all the "wrong address" gestapo raids are not damage enough,the court will dismiss the suit without hearing any proof of medical efficacy.

alapoet2

@claygooding I don't see that as being particularly difficult to prove.Do you?

claygooding

@alapoet2 I wouldn't think so but that is exactly what the first argument by the DOJ is,,,that the advocates were not being harmed by the DEA's refusal to re-classify,,,of course just the number of patients being harmed by all those raids in several states with mmj laws should be enough to justify the suit,,,waiting to see,,if they do decide for the DOJ,,it will only take them a short time to deny the suit.

mschuler86

1 Like

Finally the DEA will dragged into the shit show of this hypocrisy. The DEA is gonna look like a bunch of fools.