Jim
Tozzi, the industry friendly lobbyist who helped create the little-known "
Data Quality Act," is offering his assistance to medical
marijuana advocates who are using the Act to undermine government claims that
marijuana has no accepted medical value. Enacted in 2000, the Data Quality Act
has been used by businesses to
challenge government reports on such things as climate change
and diet. The
Los Angeles Times writes that Tozzi's support of medical
marijuana "had more than just altruistic motives. Since its inception, the Data
Quality Act has been under attack as a weapon of big business, a stealthy way to
keep federal agencies tied in knots over what constitutes
sound science. Eager to blunt such criticism and dash attempts
to thwart his law in Congress, Tozzi has pushed public interest groups to start
deploying the act against the bureaucrats."