Is Pot Medically Worthless? Feds Stall on Question

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to a press release from Americans for Safe Access (ASA), has responded to an ASA challenge under the Federal Data Quality Act to remove marijuana from Schedule I, which is supposed to be only for dangerous drugs with no medical usefulness, with…a request for a 60-day extension. During which, apparently, HHS will consult with the Drug Enforcement Administration--who are supposed to be getting the scientific and medical facts from them--about whether or not pot has possible medicinal value.

Comments

[Lowdog]

These fuckin' jokers! Now the gov't is running in circles trying to figure out how to respond to science sticking some straight facts in their face.

I hope they spin themselves into a nice hole straight to hell.

My only problem with the fight now going on the strongest is that it isn't addressing the fact that marijuana shouldn't be scheduled at all.

[mith]

Patience... You have to get them to admit the whole "scientific" backing of their argument is flawed, then you attack them on their failure to use their own scientific studies.

Of course, the first part isn't going to happen, because they'll just respond by saying "We strongly disagree with the statements made by ASA and stand by our previous documentation."

[tony]

at least they didnt say no immediately

[Daniel]

Pot is medically useful, period. They are trying to figure out how God made a mistake when He created it.
Not-Daniel

[Adam]

I'm really diggin' this Data Quality Act..if it comes through here, that'll be fantastic...I googled it a while back and again a minute ago, and it sure sounds good to me..the WashPost wrote a series griping about it.

Their first piece of evidence that it's carte blanche for the destruction of regulations by any industry that wants to destroy regulations is that, "The American Chemistry Council and others challenged data used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) as it sought to ban wood treated with heavy metals and arsenic in playground equipment."

Which could be a problem if, say, kids started eating their swingsets. (And the list goes on here.)

[Highway]

Isn't that "wood treated with heavy metals and arsenic in playground equipment" also known as ordinary old pressure-treated lumber? That stuff you're SUPPOSED to use outdoors so that it doesn't rot?

I also wonder which kids are going around eating their swingsets. But then, I wonder which kids go around eating paint chips, too.

[Mike]

I also wonder which kids are going around eating their swingsets. But then, I wonder which kids go around eating paint chips, too.

You've never been around a one-year-old, have you?

[crimethink]

Strange, the Post doesn't seem too thrilled about the DQA ("Nemesis of Regulation"!). Go figure.

[Phillip]

the decision to use or not use marijuana should not involve doctors or the federal government. this slave mentality that adults should need permission to possess property that is far less dangerous than comparable legal products is the very nature of the drug problem. It should not go unnoticed that individuals such as bruce mirken of mpp do not have the courage to come out for full scale decriminalization or revamping how the fda approval process for all drugs takes place. If anyone thinks medical marijuana will lead to to a less intrusive state of affairs they are seriously mistaken, from the frying pan into the fire I say

[Adam]

Phillip - MPP is founded on the idea that individuals have a fundamental right to put marijuana products into their body, and challenging the entirety of the FDA approval process would be a waste of time and effort. MPP's strategy seems to be kicking ass - ending prohibition of marijuana for medical purposes, state-by-state (they won 17 out of 20 ballot initiatives this year), and remaining dedicated to allowing individuals to put marijuana in their bodies (they've already filed the petition to "regulate" marijuana - keeping it out of the hands of people under 18 years old - in Nevada for November 2006). Yeah, I want pot to be legal, today, for everybody too, but let's be real.

[Phillip]

challenging the entity known as the fda is not a waste of time at all, the fact that the public ignores the studies of sam peltzman and others at http://www.fdareview.org is not the fault of the believers in human liberty. The prescription drug laws are at least as obnoxious as the marijuana laws. If the goal is to legalize marijuana for adults why not say so? The drug war will not be ended by getting more bureaucrats involved, as far as the notion that MPP is 'kicking ass', millions of dollars have been spent on this patently ridiculous notion of medical marijuana. What has been accomplished? Some people are able in some states to use a drug that is far safer than otc drugs if they are on their deathbed, if and only if a doctor concurs, wow thats what I call kicking ass!!!

[joe]

Because of MPP testimony before the US Sentencing Commission, mandatory minimums were lowered and a significant number of Drug War prisoners released from prison.

Perhaps MPP should have let them remain in jail, so as to avoid compromising their principles, eh Phillip?

[Phillip]

Congress doesnt give a damn what Bruce Mirken or MPP, they lowered mandatory minimums because of a budget crises and because soros lobbied them to do so. Lets put skiis on doctors prescription and then label some forms of winter recreation therapeutic by federal bureaucrats. In sixty years we could decriminalize skiing only for people who are going to die anyways, and fail to denounce the whole immoral process.

[Warren]

Gee-zus Kay-Riest I can't fucking believe how fucking ridiculous this is. No way in hell should pot have ever been classified sc 1. NORML was founded in what nineteen sixty something? They've been loosing ground for over thirty years.

Never mind whether dope has medical value. How in the wide wide world of sports can anyone claim with a straight face that it's dangerous!??

God this is depressing... I need a drink (fucking eh it's not even noon yet)

[David]

The idiocy of the federal government's position on marijuana has been demonstrated many times. And that goes for their position on drugs in general.

While in the hospital last year I had a roommate that was dying of advanced stomach cancer. He was in horrible pain and spent much of the time curled up in a fetal position. The hospital refused to give him enough morphine to knock the pain down to a bearable level. I asked the nurse why they couldn't give him some more and was told that because it is a narcotic they are regulated on how much they can give over a certain period of time. The poor guy was reduced to literally begging for more. It was infuriating to see. He said he has had to go thru this every time he has been in the hospital. Even though he himself knows that it takes 30mg of morphine to keep the pain under control, the most they will give him is 10mg. The guy is dying and in pain yet apparently they are more concerned he might get addicted -- as if that is going to matter.

[idiotic questioner]

IF pot were ever legalized for whatever use,
how are they going to get around the trial lawyers on the regulation of dosage taken by inhalation? Can they get the stuff into inhalers?

[thoreau]

I didn't think the question was idiotic at all. In fact, if pot is ever legalized, I fully expect John Banzhaf to sue on the grounds that it can lead to obesity, not to mention the lung problems caused by smoking it.

I wonder if in some future day, a pot grower besieged by lawyers will long for the "good old days" of prohibition. Bribing a few cops to leave you alone is a lot cheaper than huge class action settlements.

[joe]

Not-so-idiotic-questioner, the lead appellant in the case uses marijuana-infused body lotion and spiked brownies.

As with bathtub gin and white lightning, prohibition encourages the use of substances in more dangerous forms.

[Phillip]

It doesnt matter what federal drug policy is, the drug war will end because of gene splicing, they will be able to put the alkaloid producing genes from coca, cannabis and opium in other plants, Then drugs should be cheaper than any taxed product, drug war over, Im not saying I look forward to the days of cheaper cocaine, but it will be amusing if nothing else....

[SteveinClearwater]

Cheaper, more available cocaine would lead to a reduction in per capita use IMHO.

Most people don't stop using cocaine because it's 'addictive'.

They stop because it's HARD on the damn body when used in any great quantity.

Nope, not as 'hard' as the prohibitionists might imply (ie, Take One Snort and Have a Heart Attack)...but simply horribly debilitating when used repeatedly.

The main reason people can use it over long periods is that most people can't afford it and thus they have repeated periods of deprivation. These periods may just be a few days or weeks, but during that time, the body and brain detox and are 'ready to go' again.

Notice that most folks with a lot of money (celebs etal) who get into cocaine almost always quit after just a few months. It's because they don't get deprived for quite some time (several weeks or months).

The substance promotes compulsive redosing, so given unlimited and/or inexpensive supply, the user would burn himself out pretty damn quick.

I speak from experience of Loving the Hell out of doing coke during late 80s/early 90s, but I was in the 'normal' group $$-wise so it took me several years to say Been There, Done That, Got the TShirt...Now I'm fine with a couple glasses of wine or a nice phattie.

I can even sleep most days....heh

My 'perfect' treatment plan for the sporadic cocaine user who professes to want to quit?

Give him all he wants as long as he can take it.

The biggest, baddest bear in town will be crawling in, begging you to flush the shit in 30 days max. Another 30-60 days of detox combined with counseling to help root out why you would want to hammer yourself like that for 30 days straight and hey, you've got a life again.

Now if I could just get the insurance companies to reimburse......