U.S. Is Sued Over
Position on Marijuana
by Americans for Safe Access

CAROLYN MARSHALL / New York Times 22feb2007

[Americans for Safe Access (ASA) Press Release below]

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21 — Frustrated by government policy and inaction, a group of advocates for medical marijuana sued two federal health agencies on Wednesday over the assertion that smoking it has no medical benefit.

The group, Americans for Safe Access, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, filed the lawsuit in Federal District Court, challenging the government’s position that marijuana, “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

In its lawsuit, the group contends that federal regulators have publicly issued “false and misleading statements” about the medical benefits of marijuana.

The lawsuit, which named the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration, seeks a court order to retract and correct statements that the group called, “incorrect, dishonest and a flagrant violation of laws.”

A lawyer for the medical marijuana group, Joseph Elford, said the lawsuit was filed now because administrative avenues had been exhausted and because of mounting scientific and anecdotal evidence to the contrary.

Mr. Elford said a recent study by the Clinical Research Center at San Francisco General Hospital, which was approved by the F.D.A. and other federal agencies, found that smoking marijuana relieved pain and certain symptoms of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

A spokeswoman for the health department said Wednesday in a telephone interview that “the agency does not comment on litigation as a general policy.”

The spokeswoman, Christina Pearson, said the agency stood by its publicly stated position and pointed to an April 20, 2006, statement. In that advisory, which Ms. Pearson said was current, the federal government asserts that “there is currently sound evidence that smoked marijuana is harmful.”

It goes on to say that “no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana,” which is not an approved drug.

source: 22feb2007

Patients File Lawsuit Challenging Federal Government on
Medical Cannabis, Demand FDA Correct Misinformation

Americans for Safe Access suit follows two-year petition process,
comes on heels of new study on effectiveness of medical cannabis

Press Release / Americans for Safe Access (ASA) 21feb2007

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The patients advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed a lawsuit today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California demanding that the federal government cease issuing misinformation on medical cannabis and correct the information it has released.

"The FDA position on medical cannabis is incorrect, dishonest and a flagrant violation of laws requiring the government to base policy on sound science," said Joe Elford, Chief Counsel for Americans for Safe Access.

The suit charges a violation of the little-known Data Quality Act (DQA). The DQA requires federal agencies such as Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to rely on sound science. It also allows citizens to challenge government information believed to be inaccurate or based on faulty, unreliable data. The ASA case specifically challenges the government position that "marijuana has no accepted medical value."

"The science to support medical cannabis is overwhelming, yet the government continues to play politics with the lives of patients desperately in need of pain relief," said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. "Americans for Safe Access is filing this lawsuit on medical cannabis to demand that the FDA stop holding science hostage to politics."

Today's filing is the outcome of a more than two-year petition process and comes on the heels of a recent University of California, San Francisco study demonstrating the effectiveness of medical cannabis in treating pain in people living with HIV/AIDS.

ASA first filed a petition to force HHS — the FDA's parent agency — to correct statements about the medical value of cannabis in October 2004. Under the DQA, agencies must respond or file for an extension 60 days from the date of the first petition filing. The government response was a statement saying that it would not act on the petition, a position it has maintained despite ASA's May 2005 appeal. Using the DQA's judicial review provisions, the Oakland-based organization is now taking its cause to the courts.

"Citizens have a right to expect the government to use the best available information for policy decisions. This innovative case turns the Data Quality Act into a tool for the public interest," said preeminent legal scholar and case co-counsel Alan Morrison, who founded Public Citizen's Litigation Group and currently serves as a senior lecturer at StanfordLawSchool.

"I had side effects from morphine patches, oxycontin, and oxycodone before starting a medical cannabis regime that has allowed me to get off prescription drugs and live virtually pain-free," said Blackfoot, Idaho resident Victoria Lansford, a named patient in the lawsuit who suffers from fibromyalgia. "The government's refusal to face up to the science is irresponsible and harms citizens like me for whom this treatment is a lifeline."

ASA is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers. ASA has over 30,000 active members with chapters and affiliates in more than 40 states.

• DQA Complaint: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/DQA_Complaint.pdf
• DQA Background info: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/DQA

SOURCE Americans for Safe Access

source: 22feb2007