Marijuana is less toxic than even some vitamins, and far more is known about its medical uses than is known about most herbs. Consequently, there is every reason for the nutrition industry to help defend medical marijuana users and doctors who wish to practice natural medicine.)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA STALLS
April 2, 1999
From The Orange County Register
letters@link.freedom.com
http://www.ocregister.com/

See
California Libertarian Party And Orange County Register Assail Prosecution of The Kubbys

The news on the medical marijuana front, where things seemed to have taken a turn for the better during the two-day news cycle following the release of the Institute of Medicine report on what is known about the science surrounding marijuana as medicine, has turned grim. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s meeting with "drug czar" Barry McCaffrey last week suggests that Mr. McCaffrey is not only inclined to continue to ignore the report he himself had commissioned, he plans to interfere actively with any attempts to implement California’s medical marijuana law.

As the Sacramento Bee reported Saturday, after meeting with Mr. McCaffrey and Attorney General Janet Reno, Mr. Lockyer told reporters that "both were very clear that medical marijuana use violates federal law," and that McCaffrey said a massive additional research effort is needed before that status can be changed. Furthermore, when Mr. Lockyer told Mr. McCaffrey that state law authorizes him (Mr. Lockyer) to conduct or sponsor certain kinds of marijuana-related research, McCaffrey told Lockyer he would be violating federal law and risking arrest if he did so.
See
McCaffrey Threatens Lockyer With Arrest If California Does Research On Medical Marijuana,
But Says "A Massive Research Effort" Is Needed To See If Marijuana Has Any Medical Value;
New Stalling Begins -- 3 Articles

It is dismaying - an inversion of the democratic process - for an unaccountable, appointed federal official to threaten an elected California official with arrest for trying to implement a state law passed by the people of the state. Mr. McCaffrey’s bullying attitude is intolerable As it happens, Mr. McCaffrey has not only set himself in opposition to the relevant science and the wishes of the people of California and of five other states who have recently approved the use of medical marijuana, he also may be on shaky legal ground on several counts.

The Institute of Medicine report, which Mr. McCaffrey commissioned, not only concluded that it does have present and potential value, it made it clear that there is no legal basis for keeping marijuana on the federal government’s Schedule I, the strictest classification for the most dangerous of drugs.

A petition to reschedule marijuana is now in the final stages of consideration by the Department of Health and Human Services.

See
How The IOM Report Impacts The Move To Have Medical Marijuana Rescheduled
A spokesman for Mr. Lockyer said it was unclear as to whether Mr. Lockyer can file a formal amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief on behalf of this petition. But he can and should endorse it and urge HHS to act quickly to reschedule marijuana. It will be almost impossible for the research Mr. McCaffrey claims to desire to occur until this happens.

And there is a second lawsuit that Mr. Lockyer could support. Scientists Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw and several doctors and medical research organizations recently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia demanding that federal officials stop trying to nullify state laws in California and elsewhere that authorize licensed physicians to recommend or prescribe marijuana. The suit claims the federal government lacks constitutional authority to do so, on 1^st, 9^th and 10^th amendment grounds,
(Marijuananews note:
Amendment 1: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment 9: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment 10: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. )
and that the Constitution’s commerce clause does not allow the federal government to regulate medical practice or the distribution of medicine within the borders of a state (the entire lawsuit can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.emord.com/complain.htm ).
(Marijuananews note: This was not a good link when I checked it today. However the following description of the suit was online at http://www.emord.com/litigati.htm
"PEARSON et al. v. McCAFFREY et al. The case is pending before the Hon. Judge William B. Bryant in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In that action, the plaintiffs (including Durk Pearson, Sandy Shaw, the American Preventive Medical Association, the Life Extension Foundation, Dr. William A. Regelson, Dr. Julian M. Whitaker, Dr. Jeffrey A. Singer, Dr. Richard D. Fisher, and Dr. Henry N. Blansfield) have sued the Federal Government to declare unconstitutional and in violation of federal law its final rules prohibiting physican prescription and recommendation of medical marijuana to seriously and terminally ill patients in accordance with the laws of California, Arizona, Connecticut, and Virginia. The plaintiffs also seek injunctive relief.")

The people of five states have passed laws to permit the medical use of marijuana under doctors’ supervision. One appointed official is trying to nullify those laws. It turns out that his opposition is not just cruel to patients who are suffering, it is unscientific (as his own report reveals) and perhaps even illegal under the federal law he claims to be enforcing.

Attorney General Lockyer can be a hero. He should seize the day.