http://www.truthout.org/041609HA

US Asked to Stop "False Information" on Medical Pot

Tuesday 14 April 2009

by: Carol J. Williams and Maura Dolan  |  Visit article original @ The Los Angeles
Times

photo
Medicinal pot advocates are in court attempting to stop the government from
spreading "false information" about marijuana. (Photo: AP)

   Advocacy group tells the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the government
needs to update the official view of marijuana to reflect its use as a pain reliever.

   San Francisco and Los Angeles - Citing "overwhelming" evidence that marijuana
eases pain and anxiety for the chronically ill, medicinal pot advocates told a federal
appeals panel Tuesday that the federal government should be stopped from
spreading "false information" about marijuana.

   As was argued in the debate over whether stem cell research should be resumed,
Americans for Safe Access cast the Bush administration's opposition to any legalized
use of marijuana as being shaped by conservative sentiments instead of hard facts.

   President Obama has signaled to Cabinet members that science should be guiding
government judgments in controversial matters of medicine and technology, not the
prevailing political mood. On Tuesday, however, a government lawyer told three
judges of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the administration wasn't required
to explain or retract its statements that marijuana "has no currently accepted medical
use."

   Marijuana is banned under federal law but is legal for cancer patients and others
suffering chronic illnesses in California and a dozen other states. Safe Access sued
the federal government under a law that prohibits it from disseminating inaccurate
information.

   U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder signaled last month that the administration wouldn't
interfere with medical pot dispensing in states where it is legal as long as users abide
by state law.

   Since California became the first state to partially legalize medical marijuana 13
years ago, the federal government has prevailed in all challenges to the state's
practice, including a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the federal
government's right to prosecute offenders.

   Safe Access argues that the federal government needs to update its assessment to
conform with the reality of marijuana's broadening legal use as a pain reliever.

   "The science to support medical marijuana is overwhelming. It's time for the
federal government to acknowledge the efficacy of medical marijuana and stop
holding science hostage to politics," said Steph Sherer, director of Americans for Safe
Access.

   The group petitioned for revision of the federal judgment in 2004 but was ignored
by Bush officials, who also sought and won federal district court dismissal of a 2007
lawsuit filed by Safe Access.

   Justice Department lawyer Alisa Klein told the appeals court panel that the
government shouldn't be forced to defend the accuracy of "countless pieces of
information" in its massive archives. U.S. Circuit Court Judge Marsha S. Berzon, an
appointee of President Clinton, said the law at issue in the case was "amazing"
because it did appear to require the government to correct all inaccurate statements,
a result she called "troubling."

   Despite the positive signals emanating from Washington lately, Alan Morrison,
founder of Public Citizen's Litigation Group who argued on behalf of Safe Access, said
the plaintiffs hadn't expected a government turnaround just yet.

   Amid economic turmoil and global crises, he said, medical marijuana "is well below
the radar scope of the Obama administration."



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