cannabisnews.com: DEA Rejects Professor's Bid To Grow Marijuana





DEA Rejects Professor's Bid To Grow Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on December 14, 2004 at 07:38:59 PT
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff
Source: Boston Globe 
A University of Massachusetts at Amherst professor hoping to grow marijuana for research purposes got a preliminary denial from the US Drug Enforcement Administration last week.Lyle Craker, a horticulturist who specializes in medicinal plants, had won support from both Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry in his quest to grow marijuana legally. Only one American lab, at the University of Mississippi, currently has the legal right to grow marijuana for research, and Craker argued that the Mississippi marijuana is not strong enough and not readily available to researchers.
He first applied to the DEA for permission to grow marijuana more than three years ago. Kennedy and Kerry wrote a letter to the DEA last year saying that the Mississippi lab had an ''unjustified monopoly."Craker and a group that wants to fund his work, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, sued the government last summer. One of their arguments was that the DEA's failure to act on the application was an ''unreasonable delay."The US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., asked the government to explain its delay, and instead DEA issued a decision last week. In the decision, DEA said that the University of Mississippi provides researchers ''marijuana of sufficient quantity and quality to meet all their legitimate and authorized research needs in a timely manner."It also argues that an international treaty says the government can allow only one source for research marijuana.Craker and MAPS can still appeal to a federal administrative judge who makes recommendations to the DEA, but the judge's opinion is not binding, said MAPS president Rick Doblin. If unsuccessful, they plan to continue their fight in the courts.Doblin said the DEA sat on Craker's application for so long because officials lacked valid arguments to stop Craker's work.Craker's hope is to grow a potent strain of marijuana, under heavy security, and then make the plant available to scientists.''The sky is not going to come crashing down if they approve this," Craker said. ''What they would get is some good science, and they need that."Source: Boston Globe (MA)Author: Marcella Bombardieri, Globe StaffPublished: December 14, 2004Copyright: 2004 Globe Newspaper CompanyContact: letter globe.comWebsite: http://www.boston.com/globe/Related Articles & Web Site:MAPShttp://www.maps.org/ College Fails in Bid to Grow Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20028.shtmlUMass Professor Sues DEA Over Pot-Growing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19227.shtmlSenators Back UM Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17685.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by lilgrasshoppah77 on December 15, 2004 at 08:08:12 PT
Can there be anything more wicked than the DEA?
What a venal, greedy, gross cast of characters they are! I have never witnesses such violent, bald addiction to power as they!They tell us they have a safe and effective way of deciding how a medicine comes to a market, (the FDA process... HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAA! Vioxx, anybody?)and we should follow that process. And then they block any attempt to follow the FDA process.They do not have to follow the "International treaties"! They wroe them all! They enforce them all! The united states (uncapitalization intentional, to indicate my contempt) frequently breaks international treaties, and international law... to fight wars, to gain power. I guess compassion is not a viable reason to do anything... huh?
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 14, 2004 at 12:49:50 PT
Heads Up: Fox News
Is going to talk about the Mississippi Farm!http://gallery.marihemp.com/albums/public_domain_free/miss2.jpg
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on December 14, 2004 at 08:15:35 PT
America!
Ah, this must be some of the "freedom" that the terrorists attacked us for! They want to take away our freedoms! Beware!  Just realize how lucky you are to have the freedom to be free of cannabis. You are totally free to spend your life savings on prescription drugs & then die. 
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