See Philadelphia Legal Newspaper Says Medical
Marijuana Class Action Lawsuit
"essentially demands a peaceful surrender in one of the major battles in the war on
drugs."Medical Marijuana Suit filed against marijuana laws
BY CHRISTIAN THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - One is a 21-year cancer survivor and an AIDS
patient whose body is wasting away from lack of appetite.
The other suffers from the "ice pick" pain of multiple sclerosis.
The remaining 163 plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit represent every other imaginable
argument for overturning the federal governments 61-year stance on marijuana. Their suit,
filed this month in Philadelphia, seeks to end the nation’s ban on the medical and
therapeutic use of cannabis.
Lawrence Elliott Hirsch, the chief counsel of the Philadelphia-based Hirsch &
Caplan Public Interest Law Firm, is asking a U.S. District Court judge to declare the
marijuana laws unconstitutional.
See www.fairlaw.org
He says his lawsuit represents the millions of people who need to use marijuana to
survive the symptoms and treatments of a variety of diseases, These people, the suit says,
ought to be "free to use it for their health without control or interference" by
the government."
Cancer chemotherapy, AIDS wasting syndrome and nervous disorders are among scores of
afflictions that can be treated successfully only by smoking the natural plant, according
to the suit, which seeks class action on behalf of 165 plaintiffs _ and perhaps many more.
The suit was assigned to U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz. A spokeswoman at the
Department of Justice’s Civil Litigation Division said she could not comment on the
suit Monday.
The government’s 1937 classification of marijuana as a dangerous narcotic was the
result of political and moral forces seeking to take away constitutionally guaranteed
liberties, the suit contends. Hirsch says marijuana laws are akin to prohibition,
"only without a constitutional amendment."
"Cannabis was freely and legally available in the United States for a wide range
of medicinal uses until the federal politicians desecrated, demonized, defamed, prohibited
and criminalized what many cultures considered to be an invaluable resources," Hirsch
wrote. "The government’s arbitrary, hypocritical
classification of cannabis as the most dangerous drug in America continues to be the law
and policy of the United States of America, criminalizing the sick and powerless."
Kiyoshi Kuromiya, 55, a Philadelphia AIDS activist and one of the lead plaintiffs, was
diagnosed with AIDS 10 years ago. He said smoking marijuana is the only way he can
maintain an appetite.
"There’s a very powerful correlation between weight loss and the
disease’s progression, and survival," he said.
"I can sit down to a meal and be able to eat maybe one bite, or not be able to
look at the food. Marijuana is very effective Within a matter of a few minutes (after
smoking) I can eat a whole meal. Through the use of marijuana _ it’s taken some time
_ but I’ve been able to regain a lot of the weight," he said.
Aside from chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Hirsch said marijuana has been shown to
be effective in the treatment of dozens of physical and psychological maladies They
include ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis,
menstrual cramps, migraine headaches and muscle spasticity related to central nervous
system disorders.
Hirsch and Kuromiya point out that a pharmaceutical called Marinol, which consists
almost in its entirety of delta-9 tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) - the main psychoactive and
medicinal compound in marijuana has limited effectiveness.
See NORML
Responds to Nevada Doctor Who Said "Let them eat Marinol"
and links
Marinol is made under license from the government by Unimed Pharmaceuticals and is
available only by prescription. Because it comes in a pill form, it is often no help to
patients who are unable to take medication orally, including many chemotherapy patients
who develop mouth sores, they said. They also say the cost of the drug is often
prohibitive.
"When you’re getting nauseated and you’re about to vomit, you don’t
want to swallow a pill," said Kuromiya, who began the first Philadelphia-based
marijuana buyers’ club in 1993.
But it’s the government’s hypocrisy over the use of THC, Hirsch said, that is
also frustrating.
He questions why the government would allow synthetic drugs with THC and not allow it
in its natural form.
"To me the constitutional rights are obvious We’re not a political firm.
We’re a public interest law firm. This doesn’t have a thing to do with politics.
It has to do with constitutional rights and public rights," Hirsch said.
Supported