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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman