Suit To Make Feds Admit Pot's Benefits Rejected
An advocacy group's
attempt to force the federal government to concede that marijuana could have therapeutic
qualities has been snuffed by an appeals court. Americans for Safe
Access sued the government in 2007 under the Information Quality Act, a
decade-old law that allows people to compel federal officials to correct false
statements. Private citizens must show that a statement affects them and fails
to meet an agency's published standards for accuracy. The organization
said its members include seriously ill people who have been discouraged from
using marijuana by the Department of Health and Human Services' long-standing
position, stated most recently in 2001, that the drug has no medical value. The department
declined to respond to the request. It said the Drug Enforcement Administration
was still considering the issue in its review of Americans for Safe Access'
2002 application to reconsider the status of marijuana. The DEA classifies
pot as among the most dangerous drugs, with no legitimate use. On Thursday, the
Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the lawsuit was
premature because the government is still pondering the 8-year-old request. The
agency has not yet taken a final action that can be challenged in court, the
three-judge panel said. Joseph Elford, the
group's lawyer, wasn't convinced. Federal officials continue to insist that
marijuana has no accepted medical use, he said, and have declared as recently
as 2008 that a decision on the status of marijuana was imminent. Elford said he would
ask the court for a rehearing. E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com. https://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/16/BAJS1FTCJC.DTL |