Pubdate: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 Source: Star-News (NC) Copyright: 2007 Wilmington Morning Star Contact: http://www.wilmingtonstar.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500 Author: Michael Doyle, Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) DEA JUDGE RULES FOR PROFESSOR'S POT CROP Washington -- Medical researchers need more marijuana sources because government supplies aren't meeting scientific demand, a federal judge has ruled. In an emphatic but nonbinding opinion, the Drug Enforcement Administration's own judge is recommending that a University of Massachusetts professor be allowed to grow a legal pot crop. The real winners could be those suffering from painful diseases, proponents believe. "The existing supply of marijuana is not adequate," Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner ruled. The federal government's 12-acre marijuana plot at the University of Mississippi provides neither the quantity nor quality scientists need, researchers contend. While Bittner didn't embrace those criticisms, she agreed that the system for producing and distributing research marijuana is flawed. "Competition in the manufacture of marijuana for research purposes is inadequate," Bittner determined. Bittner further concluded that there is "minimal risk of diversion" from a new marijuana source. Making additional supplies available, she stated, "would be in the public interest." The DEA isn't required to follow Bittner's 88-page opinion, and the Bush administration's anti-drug stance may make it unlikely that the grass-growing rules will loosen. Both sides can now file further information before DEA administrators make their ruling. "We could still be months away from a final decision," DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney said Tuesday, adding that "obviously, we're going to take the judge's opinion into consideration." Still, the ruling is resonating in labs and with civil libertarians. "(The) ruling is an important step toward allowing medical marijuana patients to get their medicine from a pharmacy just like everyone else," said Allen Hopper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman