Government's Monopoly on Marijuana Challenged
It's about time. A researcher at the University of Massachussetts goes to court today to challenge the federal government's monopoly on growing marijuana for research purposes.
In a hearing due to start today before an administrative law judge at the Drug Enforcement Administration, professor Lyle Craker and his supporters will argue for a DEA license to grow the research drugs. It is the climax of a decades-long effort to expand research into marijuana and controlled drugs and of Craker's almost five-year effort to become a competing marijuana grower.
Professor Lyle Cacker is a University researcher of the medicinal properties of plants. Research has long been allowed on controlled substances, just not pot. For 36 years, the feds have not allowed anyone outside the University of Mississippi, with whom it has a contract, to conduct research on marijuana, fearing it would result in increased illegal use.
Cacker says the pot grown by the feds is of such low quality and purity it would make a lousy medecine even if the Government did approve its use in the future. Meanwhile, there are a lot of sick folks who could be helped by the substance.
Since the 1970s, however, researchers have found potential uses for marijuana, or its active ingredient THC, in relieving nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy and to help with appetite loss in AIDS patients. A synthetic form of marijuana's active ingredient has been made into a prescription drug, Marinol.
Doblin said there are potentially many other medicinal uses of marijuana, including the treatment of multiple sclerosis and AIDS-related neuropathy. He also said researchers believe that if they can perfect a method of "vaporizing" marijuana -- allowing it to be inhaled rather than smoked -- it would be easier to administer as medicine.
Cacker has some heavy-duty Congressional support:
Craker has backing from 38 members of Congress, the two senators from Massachusetts, numerous medical societies and even Grover Norquist, the president of the conservative Americans for Tax Reform.
It's time for the Government's monopoly to end. We'll follow Dr. Cacker's progress and report back.
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