Marijuana Blog

Medical marijuana patients across the country are going to get their voice heard in court this fall when the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears oral arguments in Americans for Safe Access (http://americansforsafeaccess.org) vs. Drug Enforcement Administration, a lawsuit challenging marijuana’s place among other Schedule I drugs under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The hearing comes ten years after the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) filed its petition, the courts will finally review the scientific evidence regarding the medical value of marijuana.

"Medical marijuana patients are finally getting their day in court," said Joe Elford, Chief Counsel with Americans for Safe Access, the country's leading medical marijuana advocacy group. "This is a rare opportunity for patients to confront politically motivated decision-making with scientific evidence of marijuana's medical efficacy," continued Elford. "What's at stake in this case is nothing less than our country's scientific integrity and the imminent needs of millions of patients."

ASA filed its lawsuit in January, challenging the July 2011 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) denial of the CRC petition, which was filed in 2002. Hopefully this will be what finally breaks the DEA’s hold over marijuana and allows a sensible scheduling of the cannabis plant at the very least.

This announcement of oral arguments comes just weeks after a study was published in The Open Neurology Journal by Dr. Igor Grant, one of the leading U.S. medical marijuana researchers, claiming that marijuana's Schedule I classification is "not tenable." Dr. Grant and his fellow researchers concluded it was "not accurate that cannabis has no medical value, or that information on safety is lacking." The study urged additional research, and stated that marijuana's federal classification and its political controversy are "obstacles to medical progress in this area." Marijuana's classification as a Schedule I substance - along with heroin and morphine - is based on the federal government's position that it has "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States."

Source: http://www.enewspf.com

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