Medical Marijuana in the News: 4/28

ASA's News Summary for the Week Ending 4/28

· FEDERAL: Appeals Court Reverses Rosenthal Convictions
a.. ASA ACTION: FDA Denial Raises Questions about ASA Petition
b.. FEDERAL: Fallout From FDA Foolishness Far From Finished
c.. CALIFORNIA: Dispensaries Still the Big Local Issue
d.. MONTANA: First Test of State Law Coming
e.. NEW JERSEY: Activists Call For Patient Protections
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FEDERAL: Appeals Court Reverses Rosenthal Convictions
ASA held a press conference with medical marijuana cultivator Ed Rosenthal
Thursday to respond to the Ninth Circuit’s decision to void his three felony
convictions. ASA chief counsel Joe Elford was part of the legal team that
represented Rosenthal both at trial and on appeal. ASA also worked with the
repentant jurors after the trial to air their story of being duped by the
harsh limitations on admissible evidence.



Advocates say pending bill would end pot-trial confusion
by Josh Richman, ANG Newspapers
Supporters of marijuana activist and author Ed Rosenthal, whose felony
convictions were overturned Wednesday by a federal appeals court, said
Thursday a pending House bill would save the government millions while
ensuring nobody else need endure what he and his jurors did. ASA legal
campaign director Kris Hermes said Thursday if Rosenthal's jurors had not
felt the wool was being pulled over their eyes by a justice system unwilling
to let Rosenthal tell his whole story, the confusion leading to the juror's
misconduct would not have existed.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3345



Juror's call upends medical pot conviction
by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle
A federal appeals court overturned the pot-growing convictions of a
prominent advocate of medical marijuana Wednesday because of a juror's phone
call to an attorney friend, who told her to follow the judge's instructions
or she could get in trouble.

http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3346



Oakland pot growing conviction overturned
by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
The federal marijuana cultivation convictions of noted pot advocate Ed
Rosenthal were overturned by a federal appeals court today because of a
juror's phone call to an attorney friend, who told her to follow the judge's
instructions or she could get in trouble.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3367



Juror's call upends medical pot conviction
by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle
A federal appeals court overturned the pot-growing convictions of a
prominent advocate of medical marijuana Wednesday because of a juror's phone
call to an attorney friend, who told her to follow the judge's instructions
or she could get in trouble.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3346



Court Overturns Rosenthal's Marijuana Convictions
by Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News, CBS 5 - TV
A federal appeals court overturned the marijuana cultivation convictions of
pot advocate Ed Rosenthal today, ruling that a juror engaged in misconduct
by asking an attorney friend for advice during deliberations.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3371



'Ganja guru' may receive new trial
by Josh Richman, ANG Newspapers
A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned the felony convictions of
"Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal of Oakland, citing juror misconduct that
warrants a new trial for the marijuana activist and author.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3370



Court Voids 'Guru of Ganja's' Pot Conviction
by David Kravets, Associated Press
A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned the self-proclaimed "Guru of
Ganja's" pot cultivation conviction because of jury misconduct, but
otherwise upheld federal powers to charge marijuana growers.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3369



Conviction of "ganja guru" overturned
Reuters
A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned the conviction of "ganja
guru" Ed Rosenthal and ordered a new trial, saying a juror had tainted the
case by seeking the advice of a lawyer before the verdict.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3368



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ASA ACTION: FDA Denial Raises Questions about ASA Petition

For more than a year the federal government has delayed responding to ASA’s
petition under the Data Quality Act, seeking correction of the government's
misinformation about medical cannabis. The FDA’s restatement of its previous
position, unsupported by research or any rationale, raised questions with
federal agency observers, who speculate about the government’s legal
liability.



Data Act Faces New Test as Drug Group Speeds Up Lawsuit Plans
Inside EPA
Attorneys for a medical marijuana advocacy group are speeding up their plans
to file a new lawsuit under the Information Quality Act (IQA), which
supporters of the law hope could set a new precedent allowing outside groups
to sue EPA and other agencies over their delays in correcting allegedly
flawed data.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3372



HHS' Medical Marijuana Paradox
EDITORIAL, Center for Regulatory Effectiveness
In the space of little more than a week, HHS issued two contradictory
statements on medical marijuana.... HHS's failure to articulate a coherent
position on medical marijuana supported by the scientific record leaves the
Department vulnerable to legal challenge.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3339



____________________________________________________

FEDERAL: Fallout From FDA Foolishness Far From Finished

A bipartisan Congressional coalition of lawmakers challenged last week’s
U.S. Food and Drug Administration statement denying the medical uses of
marijuana, while prestigious editorial boards and columnists for newspapers
across the country, and even in England, joined with activists in lambasting
it as politically motivated and scientifically baseless.



Medical Marijuana: Bipartisan House Coalition Challenges FDA Medical
Marijuana Finding
Drug War Chronicles
A week after the US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) issued a one-page
opinion claiming marijuana has no proven medical uses -- a position that
ignores the much more comprehensive analysis done by the National Academy of
Science's Institute of Medicine in 1999 -- a bipartisan group of 24 House
members led by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) has called on the agency to
explain its reasoning and offer scientific proof for its position.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3347



FDA Opposition to Medical Marijuana Fuels Controversy
by HealthDay News, Forbes
The announcement by U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials late
Thursday that the agency does not support the medicinal use of marijuana
quickly re-ignited controversy from both sides of the debate.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3356



US interest in MS drug boosts GW
by Stephen Foley, The Independent (UK)
US investors piled into GW Pharmaceuticals yesterday amid excitement over
the prospects for an American launch of its revolutionary cannabis-based
treatment for multiple sclerosis.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3362



FDA Ignores Cannabis Potential
New Scientist (UK)
It's enough to make your head spin. The US Food and Drug Administration
announced on Friday that marijuana is not a legitimate medicine because
there is no hard evidence to show its safety or effectiveness. But marijuana
researchers argue political obstacles make it almost impossible to get such
data.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3361



Medical Marijuana Advocates Slam ‘Politicized’ FDA Report
by Michelle Chen, The New Standard
Clashing with drug-policy reform groups and a growing body of scientific
research, the federal government has stepped up its effort to invalidate
marijuana as medicine.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3324



FDA: Marijuana not a medicine
by Bob Roehr, Bay Area Reporter
The Food and Drug Administration rejected any claims that smoked marijuana
is a medicine, saying, "No animal or human data supported the safety or effi
cacy of marijuana for general medical use." [...] Americans for Safe Access
previously filed an administrative petition with the Department of Health
and Human Services under the Data Quality Act, challenging the finding that
marijuana has no medicinal value. By law, HHS is supposed to respond within
60 days, but it has taken six 60-day extensions, delaying its response by
more than a year.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3352



EDITORIALS ON THE FDA



Marijuana is medically useful, whether politicians like it or not
EDITORIAL, The Economist
If cannabis were unknown, and bioprospectors were suddenly to find it in
some remote mountain crevice, its discovery would no doubt be hailed as a
medical breakthrough. Scientists would praise its potential for treating
everything from pain to cancer, and marvel at its rich pharmacopoeia—many of
whose chemicals mimic vital molecules in the human body. In reality,
cannabis has been with humanity for thousands of years and is considered by
many governments (notably America's) to be a dangerous drug without utility.
Any suggestion that the plant might be medically useful is politically
controversial, whatever the science says. It is in this context that, on
April 20th, America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement
saying that smoked marijuana has no accepted medical use in treatment in the
United States.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3355



Medical Marijuana's Catch-22
by The Editors, Scientific American
Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement reaffirming
its opposition to the medical use of marijuana, declaring that "no sound
scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the
United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy
of marijuana for general medical use. There are alternative FDA-approved
medications in existence for treatment of many of the proposed uses of
smoked marijuana." This, despite the existence of a 1999 report by the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, which concluded
that marijuana was "moderately well suited for particular conditions...."
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3326



The Politics of Pot
EDITORIAL, New York Times
The Bush administration's habit of politicizing its scientific agencies was
on display again this week when the Food and Drug Administration, for no
compelling reason, unexpectedly issued a brief, poorly documented statement
disputing the therapeutic value of marijuana. The statement was described as
a response to numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill, but its likely intent
was to buttress a crackdown on people who smoke marijuana for medical
purposes and to counteract state efforts to legalize the practice.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3338



Dissembling on medical pot
EDITORIAL, Chicago Tribune
The federal government has a long and dismal record of fighting the idea
that marijuana has any medical value, and it is not about to let mere facts
force a change in policy.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3329



Politics produces a cloud of smoke
EDITORIAL, Jacksonville Daily News (NC)
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for reasons that are far
from clear, chose to enter the debate over medical marijuana with a
thoroughly unscientific — one might even say anti-scientific — blanket
denial that marijuana has any medical value at all.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3357



FDA fails to ease the pain
EDITORIAL, The Tennessean
The Food and Drug Administration under the Bush administration is no
stranger to mixing science with politics, but the debate over the use of
marijuana for medical purposes is unnecessarily cruel.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3365



FDA loses credibility with jab at medical pot
EDITORIAL, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
As the regulatory agency assigned to protect Americans against health risks,
the Food and Drug Administration relies on scientific proof to maintain its
credibility. That credibility took a dive last week when the FDA -- citing
no studies whatsoever -- announced that "no sound scientific studies"
support the medical use of marijuana.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3366



Blowing smoke at the White House
EDITORIAL, Tracy Press (CA)
Americans have been getting mixed messages from their governments about
medical marijuana use. And we got another one last week that sounds like a
scary blast from the past — about 70 years ago when the feds began to crack
down on pot.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3364



See No Evil
EDITORIAL, Los Angeles Daily News
If the FDA wants to stand its ground on marijuana, that's one thing. But
regulators shouldn't deceive the public by implying its decision is based on
scientific fact.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3328



OPINION ON THE FDA



In reviewing some drugs, FDA practices twisted science
by Paul Campos, OpEd Columnist, Scripps Howard News Service
This is the story of two drugs. The first, dexfenfluramine, was the active
ingredient in the weight loss drug Redux. It killed hundreds of people, and
severely injured thousands more. The second is marijuana. It has, as far as
anybody knows, killed no one. Anyone interested in the politics of science
should study the Food and Drug Agency's treatment of these two drugs.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3351



Potheads and Sudafed
by John Tierney, OP/ED Columnist, New York Times
Washington's latest prescription for patients in pain is the statement
issued last week by the Food and Drug Administration on the supposed evils
of medical marijuana. The FDA is being lambasted, rightly, by scientists for
ignoring some evidence that marijuana can help severely ill patients. But
its the kind of statement given by a hostage trying to please his captors,
who in this case are a coalition of Republican narcs on Capitol Hill, in the
White House and at the Drug Enforcement Administration.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3358



All Smoke
by Sydney Spiesel, M.D., Columnist, Slate
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration reported that it had
definitively established that marijuana has no medical use or value.
Definitively? Established? I don't think so.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3322



The FDA's reefer madness
by Barbara Quirk, OpEd, The Capital Times (WI)
Ah, marijuana. The "wicked weed" of the '60s is in the news again. This
time, despite previous studies showing otherwise, the Food and Drug
Administration said this past week that it does not support the use of
marijuana for medical purposes.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3363



____________________________________________________

CALIFORNIA: Dispensaries Still the Big Local Issue

Officials in Santa Cruz, Seaside, Palm Desert, Hermosa Beach, Rohnert Park,
La Mirada, and Temecula were all grappling with dispensary issues this week.
The bravery and commitment of operators such as those profiled in the first
article help explain why communities are best served by reaching reasonable
accommodations to implement state law.



Providing medical pot worth the risk, pair say
by Elizabeth Hume, Sacramento Bee
Two women who run a Sacramento medical marijuana dispensary said Friday they
are willing to go to prison if it means helping patients who seek cannabis
as an alternative medication.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3330



Seaside Weighs Medical Pot Plan
by Sukhjit Purewal, Monterey Herald
The city of Seaside Thursday unanimously approved an emergency 45-day
moratorium on marijuana dispensaries while it closely studies a request made
earlier this month from a San Francisco Bay Area man who has proposed
opening one in the city.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3332



Second S.C. pot shop wins approval
by Shanna McCord, Santa Cruz Sentinel
K.E. Sampson, a Corralitos resident and medical marijuana patient of five
years, plans to have the city's second medical pot shop up and running by
the end of May.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3331



CannaHelp won't turn over client list
by K. Kaufmann, The Desert Sun (CA)
Customers of Palm Desert's medical marijuana dispensary won't have their
names turned over to police after all. Nevertheless, an agreement signed
April 10 between the city and CannaHelp owner Stacy Hochanadel makes Palm
Desert only the second city in California to require customers at a
dispensary to have a state ID card, according to Kris Hermes, legal campaign
director for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group
based in Oakland.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3359



Hermosa places moratorium on medical marijuana
by Deepa Bharath, Daily Breeze (CA)
Faced with a large gap between what federal and state law allow regarding
medical marijuana dispensaries and the prospect of an influx of potential
customers looking to score a legal high, local cities are moving to impose
temporary bans as they explore guidelines on such establishments.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3349



Rohnert Park extends ban on medical marijuana dispensaries
KESQ TV (Palm Springs)
The Rohnert Park City Council has extended its ban on medical marijuana
dispensaries. The council voted Tuesday to extend an existing one-year
moratorium on pot clubs for another year, saying that conflicting state and
federal laws make their legal status unclear.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3348



La Mirada puts freeze on pot centers
by Mike Sprague, Whittier Daily News
The City Council has approved a 45-day temporary ban on medical marijuana
dispensaries while a permanent ordinance can be drawn up. The moratorium,
approved Tuesday, is intended to give city staff time to prepare an
ordinance specifying conditions and locations to accommodate such
dispensaries, if needed.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3360



Council says no to medical marijuana dispensaries in Temecula
by Elaine Nelson, Temecula Valley News
The Temecula City Council sidestepped California Proposition 215, also known
as the Compassionate Use Act, at last Tuesday’s meeting and voted
unanimously to amend the city’s municipal code and prohibit the
establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3344



____________________________________________________

MONTANA: First Test of State Law Coming
The state enacted protections for medical cannabis patients in 2004, but the
case of a 58-year-old disabled veteran will be the first to test it. The
ACLU has filed a brief explaining why the man, who has a valid California
recommendation, is in compliance with Montana law.



Man fighting drug charge with medical marijuana defense
by Associated Press, Billings Gazette (MT)
A California man plans to challenge a drug charge using Montana's medical
marijuana law as a defense.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3325

____________________________________________________

NEW JERSEY: Activists Call For Patient Protections

Both Republican and Democrat candidates for governor here declared their
support for medical cannabis protections last fall, and a state senate bill
was introduced in January. But patients and activists are still waiting. A
group co-founded by the widow of Cheryl Miller, an MS patient shoe battle
brought national attention to the issue, is applying pressure.



Use of medical marijuana recommended to ease the pain
by Ken Wolski, OpEd, Asbury Park Press (NJ)
The mission of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey is to bring
about safe and legal access to marijuana for New Jersey patients who are
under the care of licensed physicians. We believe no one should suffer
needlessly, and no one should go to jail for following the advice of their
doctor.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=3354
___________________________________________________________
FOR MORE MEDICAL MARIJUANA NEWS
Previous News Summaries from Americans for Safe Access are archived. The
complete text of all these articles and more is available by clicking the
links on the article name or the news source, as well as at the ASA website,
safeaccessnow.org. You can also see the latest news for the week by
selecting "News Articles" under the Press Room menu.