Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jan 2013
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: David G. Savage
Page: A7

COURT WON'T BACK MEDICAL MARIJUANA

DEA Classification of Pot As a Dangerous Drug Will Stand, Appellate Judges Say.

WASHINGTON - Marijuana will continue to be considered a highly 
dangerous drug under federal law with no accepted medical uses, after 
a U.S. appeals court Tuesday refused to order a change in the 
government's 40-year-old drug classification schedule.

The decision keeps in place an odd legal split over marijuana, a drug 
deemed to be as dangerous as heroin and worse than methamphetamine by 
federal authorities, but one that has been legalized for medical use 
by voters or legislators in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

A marijuana advocacy group went to court, arguing that federal 
officials had a duty to reexamine the medical evidence and reclassify 
marijuana as a drug that has clear benefits for those who are 
suffering and in pain. Joe Elford, counsel for Americans for Safe 
Access, said federal drug officials had a bias against marijuana that 
caused them to ignore its benefits and to exaggerate its dangers.

But three judges said they had a duty to defer to the judgment of 
federal health experts who had concluded they needed more evidence 
before reclassifying marijuana.

"To establish accepted medical use, the effectiveness of a drug must 
be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted and 
well-documented scientific studies [with] a large number of patients. 
To date, such studies have not been performed," the Drug Enforcement 
Administration said in defense of its decision. The passage was 
quoted in Tuesday's opinion.

Judge Harry Edwards, writing for the Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia, said the judges did not dispute that "marijuana 
could have some medical benefits." Instead, he said, they were not 
willing to overrule the DEA because they had not seen large 
"well-controlled studies" that proved the medical value of marijuana.

"We're disappointed, but not surprised," said Steph Sherer, executive 
director of Americans for Safe Access. She said more than 1 million 
patients used marijuana as medicine across the nation.

She said the group would appeal to the Supreme Court. "We are also 
turning our attention to Congress. It is time we had a conversation 
about marijuana at the federal level," she said.

In December, President Obama and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), 
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said they were prepared 
to reconsider federal law that makes possession of small amounts of 
marijuana a crime. They were reacting to voters in Colorado and 
Washington who opted to permit recreational users to have an ounce of 
marijuana at home.

"So, what we're going to need to have is a conversation about how do 
you reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal 
offense and state laws that it's legal," Obama told ABC News.

Leahy said he would consider legislative proposals that could relax 
federal enforcement against small amounts of marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom