cannabisnews.com: College Fails in Bid to Grow Marijuana College Fails in Bid to Grow Marijuana Posted by CN Staff on December 13, 2004 at 20:23:58 PT By Donald G. McNeil Jr. Source: New York Times A longstanding request to grow marijuana at the University of Massachusetts so it can be tested for medical uses has been turned down by the Drug Enforcement Administration.The decision was faxed to the university on Friday and made public yesterday by the Marijuana Policy Project, an independent group that favors legalization of marijuana, particularly for medical uses. A spokeswoman for the D.E.A. said the agency would have no comment beyond its order, which gave the university 30 days to appeal.The dispute is over marijuana in its smoked or vaporized form. Capsules of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the plant's active ingredients, can be prescribed in many states for cancer and AIDS patients suffering nausea and appetite loss. But proponents of medical marijuana argue that the inhaled form is more effective and contains more than 50 active ingredients that the capsules do not. In its order, the drug agency said the lone government-licensed marijuana farm, operated by the University of Mississippi, grew enough for researchers. It said that 18 medical studies using the drug had been approved since 2000. But Dr. Lyle E. Craker, the professor of plant biology at the University of Massachusetts who applied for the license three years ago, said researchers complained that the government's marijuana was weak and that it was hard to get permission to use it. "We wanted to have a source independent from the government and with a known potency so doctors can run clinical trials," he said. Researchers would still need D.E.A. permission to work with the drug.In its order, the agency said that after contacting researchers, it determined that the Mississippi crop was of "sufficient quantity and quality" to meet the researchers' needs.Advocates of medical marijuana complained that the D.E.A. had prejudged the results of clinical trials of smoked or vaporized marijuana before they could even be conducted. The agency's order said smoking "ultimately cannot be the permitted delivery system for any potential marijuana medication due to the deleterious effects and the difficulty in monitoring the efficaciousness."In 10 states, including California, patients with a doctor's recommendation may smoke marijuana without fear of state prosecution. The federal government opposes those protections and has arrested users.Source: New York Times (NY)Author: Donald G. McNeil Jr.Published: December 14, 2004Copyright: 2004 The New York Times Company Contact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:MPPhttp://www.mpp.org/MAPShttp://www.maps.org/ UMass Professor Sues DEA Over Pot-Growing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19227.shtmlUMass Prof Seeks Pot Permit http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17170.shtmlPrivatizing Pot - Reason Magazinehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16836.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #10 posted by dongenero on December 14, 2004 at 08:24:23 PT Government marijuana hobby grow Looks like they need soil amendments. They probably just pump them up with non-organic nutrients.Like 13th step says...radioactive elements in the non-organic fertilizers. That's how the commercial tobacco ends up containing radioactive elements. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by 13th step on December 14, 2004 at 07:56:07 PT It does look uncared for... It looks horrible!I've seen the laziest, most slovenly, potheads (I hate that term, but that's what they call themselves!) grow cannabis that looks way more healthy than what's represented in those pictures. And they did it completely organic, no pesticides, and did it outdoors.How come the government can't?I know the answer. We all do.Let's set it up to fail.Thing is, the schwag they grow still works, a testament to this plant.I just wonder how many radioactive fertilizers they use.... [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by mayan on December 14, 2004 at 05:53:08 PT POWER PLANT It's obvious that the cannabis plant is the most useful,versatile plant in the world because the government has gone to such amazingly incomprehensible lengths just to keep it illegal! They know very well what this plant can do and that is why they fear it. Their power relies on their ability to control finite resources. That's how they control us. If the weed gets free then so do we.Here are a few cannabis-related articles...Bill Murray cannabis smuggling cost him medical ambitions: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity/17732004.htmThe wheat from the grass: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041214/OPINION02/412140307/-1/OPINIONChanges in marijuana industry challenging authorities: http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=4712&Section=ValleyWE MUST OUTSHINE THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA BLACKOUT OF THE STOLEN ELECTION... Green Says Voting Company Tampered With Recount Effort: http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=490House Judiciary Ohio Forum Hears of Recount Fraud Plans: http://www.breakfornews.com/articles/OhioForumDec13Report1.htmCobb Testifies Before Congressional Forum in Ohio: http://votecobb.org/press/2004/dec/pr2004-12-13b.phpOhio Vote Fraud Battle Heats Up: http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_14464.shtmlRecount Efforts Move Forward In Ohio & New Mexico: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0412/S00185.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by afterburner on December 14, 2004 at 04:28:14 PT Mis-Titled Article Should Have Said: DEA Fails College in Bid to Grow Marijuana [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Hope on December 13, 2004 at 22:13:08 PT litter, too There appears to be some sort of litter on the ground around the plants. Really scientific and scholarly looking. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 13, 2004 at 22:09:15 PT dr slider It looks so uncared for. That was my first impression. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by dr slider on December 13, 2004 at 22:04:55 PT: Mississippi's Prison Farm That miss2.jpg you posted is the perfect visual allegory for our times. A group of lonely neglected plants huddle in the center of a prison yard surrounded by watchtowers and razer wire. If there was ever an image that screams "FREE THE WEED" that's it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by CN Staff on December 13, 2004 at 21:15:28 PT Press Release from MAPS MAPS Comments on DEA's "Order to Show Cause" December 13, 2004DEA's "Order to Show Cause" says that we have 30 days to submit an appeal for an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearing and that if we don't, the application will be rejected. We will, of course, appeal and will launch yet another ALJ hearing. The "Order to Show Cause" gives DEA's explanations for its decision. After reading how weak and fallacious DEA's arguments are, it's easy to understand why DEA didn't want to issue this ruling and had to be sued in order to force it to do so, 3 and 1/2 years after the application was initially filed. DEA considers the application to be not consistent with the public interest. My favorite DEA rationale is that despite our claim that NIDA's monopoly obstructs our efforts to do research, DEA says that its rejection of the application doesn't violate the public interest since "Current marijuana research has not progressed to Phase 2 of the clinical trials because current research must utilize smoked marijuana, which ultimately cannot be the permitted delivery system for any potential marijuana medication due to the deleterious effects and the difficulty in monitoring the efficaciousness of smoked marijuana." [See 8 (a) on page 4 of DEA's Order.] Basically, DEA is saying that since it can prejudge the outcome of FDA-approved research and knows that smoked marijuana "ultimately cannot be permitted," therefore denying us the opportunity to do the research in the first place isn't against the public interest. What makes this all the more ludicrous is that the DEA lawyers don't even understand the FDA drug review process enough to know that there are currently several Phase II studies with smoked marijuana underway and already approved by DEA! DEA focus on "smoked marijuana" also ignores the whole concept of vaporization as an alternative non-smoking delivery system that MAPS has already studied. Vaporization uses the marijuana plant and heats it to less than the temperature of burning, sufficient to generate a steam that contains cannabinoids but without the products of combustion which are of health concern. For the last 17 months, DEA has been blocking our efforts to import 10 grams of marijuana from the Dutch, and HHS/NIDA has been blocking our efforts to purchase 10 grams of marijuana from NIDA, both requests seeking marijuana for further laboratory research with vaporizers. DEA's claims that US international treaty obligations prevent it from issuing the license to UMass Amherst are false, as the example of GW Pharmaceuticals proves. GW is a private producer of marijuana in England, which is also a signatory to the same international treaties that the US has signed. The International Narcotic Control Board (INCB), which monitors compliance with the treaties, has never once objected to the British Home Office licensing of GW's production facility, which took place more than six years ago in 1998. For a document submitted July 24, 2002, to DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson analyzing US international treaty obligations, written by Peter Barton Hutt and Alexei M.Silverman of DC law firm Covington & Burling (which helped on the Ashcroft v. Raich case pro-bono), and Graham Boyd, American Civil Liberties Union, Drug Policy Litigation Project, see: http://www.maps.org/mmj/treatyanalysis.pdfhttp://www.maps.org/mmj/legal/dea121004-6.htmlhttp://www.maps.org/sys/nq.pl?id=268&fmt=page [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by CN Staff on December 13, 2004 at 20:36:36 PT Press Release from ASA Medical Marijuana Advocacy Group Urges HHS Nominee Leavitt to Act on Marijuana Petitions with Fairness, Accuracy, and SpeedDecember 13, 2004BERKELEY, Calif., Dec. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement on the nomination of Michael Leavitt as new Health and Human Services Secretary by Steph Sherer, executive director, Americans for Safe Access:"We urge the next secretary of HHS to bring the weight of overwhelming scientific evidence to reclassifying marijuana in the U.S, in recognition of its medical value. This reclassification will increase long overdue access to medical marijuana for seriously ill people here in the U.S., and will remove the barriers (and potentially serious legal consequences) associated with researching, prescribing and administering this substance by U.S. health professionals.We have a petition for rescheduling marijuana in front of Health and Human Services right now, as well as a challenge under the Federal Data Quality Act for HHS to correct inaccurate assertions made in their 2001 denial of a prior rescheduling petition. This misinformation has maintained the unnecessary and inappropriate restrictions, and severe legal penalties, that limit access to medical cannabis in the United States to treat serious medical conditions for which it has scientifically shown its value. Further, the continued classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, a classification supported by HHS's flawed recommendations, restrains legitimate medical research in the U.S. on other potential therapeutic benefits of cannabis.We call on Michael Leavitt to remember, if confirmed, that his actions regarding marijuana rescheduling will affect the hundreds of thousands of Americans who undergo chemotherapy, suffer from wasting syndrome, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, or other conditions for which marijuana has been proven to be a useful treatment. It is time that our health officials with the greatest authority take responsibility for this policy decision, rather than leaving it in the hands of ill-informed law enforcement agencies and elected officials."A national coalition of 10,000 patients, doctors and advocates, Americans for Safe Access is the largest organization working solely on medical marijuana. To learn more, see: http://ww.SafeAccessNow.org To: National Desk Contact: Hilary McQuie of Americans for Safe Access, 510-333-8554 or hilary safeaccessnow.org; Web: http://ww.SafeAccessNow.orghttp://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=40656 [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on December 13, 2004 at 20:26:12 PT Pictures from The Mississippi Farm http://gallery.marihemp.com/public_domain_freehttp://gallery.marihemp.com/albums/public_domain_free/miss2.jpg [ Post Comment ] Post Comment