Medical Marijuana - Mar07Newsletter
Medical Marijuana - Mar07Newsletter
A new study demonstrating the effective- "This study validates the experience people On February 12, Judge Mary Ellen Bittner
ness of cannabis in alleviating nerve pain living with HIV/AIDS and their doctors have issued a ruling in favor of University of
for HIV patients has patient advocacy reported for years- medical cannabis pro- Massachusetts-Amherst Professor Lyle E.
groups calling for Congressional hearings. vides much-needed relief from pain and Craker, Ph.D., who has led a six-year strug-
Americans for Safe Access joined with suffering." said Frank Oldham Jr., the exec- gle to gain a DEA license to grow research-
national HIV/AIDS and advocacy groups in utive director of the National Association of grade cannabis. Prof. Craker hopes to con-
appealing for new policies on cannabis. The People With AIDS. "That is why we are join- duct clinical studies that will determine the
study, conducted at the University of ing Americans for Safe Access to call on full extent of marijuana's medical value.
California, San Francisco medical school and Congress to address cannabis for its medici-
published February 12 in the peer-reviewed nal value." The DEA's response to the ruling is due March
journal Neurology, showed that HIV 26; Prof. Craker will have until May 4 to
patients suffering from neuropathic pain, a An estimated 3-4 million people in the U.S. answer. The DEA Deputy Administrator will
notoriously harsh and difficult to treat con- suffer from neuropathic pain, and as many then decide whether to accept or reject the
dition, reported twice as much relief from as 37% of people living with HIV/AIDS use ruling, likely within three to 15 months.
cannabis as compared to a control group. (continued, p2) (continued, p2)
Americans for Safe Access • 1322 Webster Street, Suite 402 • Oakland, CA 94612
510-251-1856 • [email protected] • www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org
FALSE INFO CHALLENGED, continued) the public interest," said case co-counsel
treating pain in people living with HIV/AIDS. Alan Morrison, a preeminent legal scholar
AMERICANS FOR who founded Public Citizen's Litigation
SAFE ACCESS ASA first filed a petition to force HHS - the
FDA's parent agency - to correct statements
Group and currently serves as a senior lec-
turer at Stanford Law School.
www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org about the medical value of cannabis in
October 2004. Under the DQA, agencies "I had side effects from morphine patches,
1322 Webster Street, #402 must respond or file for an extension 60 oxycontin, and oxycodone before starting a
Oakland, California 94612 days from the date of the first petition fil- medical cannabis regime that has allowed
ing. The government response was a state- me to get off prescription drugs and live vir-
Phone: 510-251-1856
ment saying that it would not act on the tually pain-free," said Blackfoot, Idaho resi-
Fax: 510-251-2036 petition, a position it has maintained dent Victoria Lansford, a named patient in
[email protected] despite ASA's May 2005 appeal. Using the the lawsuit who suffers from fibromyalgia.
DQA's judicial review provisions, the "The government's refusal to face up to the
(RESEARCH UPDATE, continued) Oakland-based organization is now taking science is irresponsible and harms citizens like
its cause to the courts. me for whom this treatment is a lifeline."
ASA scientific director Barbara Roberts,
Ph.D., a former head of the Office of The DQA complaint ASA filed in court is at:
"Citizens have a right to expect the govern-
National Drug Control Policy, called publi- AmericansForSafeAccess.org/downloads/DQ
ment to use the best available information
cation of the neuropathy study and A_Complaint.pdf. DQA Background info:
for policy decisions. This innovative case
Bittner's decision a double blow to those AmericansForSafeAccess.org/DQA.
turns the Data Quality Act into a tool for
who would prohibit such research.