“… the DEA, a liberty impinging branch of the federal government, insists against overwhelming evidence that a plant called marijuana “has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision.”
That dubious determination is what keeps marijuana classified as a Schedule 1 drug, the only kind that cannot be prescribed by physicians. It is more tightly controlled than raw opium, methadone, and anabolic steroids, among many other drugs far more harmful to the human body, and more prone to abuse than cannabis.
Is that something the DEA can defend in court?
Americans For Safe Access (ASA) intends to find out. The advocacy group has spent years petitioning to change marijuana’s designation so that doctors can prescribe it to patients. Last month, the DEA officially denied their request. In response, the group intends to sue. “The federal government is making no bones about its aggressive policy to undermine medical marijuana,” said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. “And we’re prepared to take the Obama administration to court over it…”
Read the entire story with links and videos on The Atlantic’s website.
“GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Federal agencies conducted 26 raids on medical marijuana facilities in 13 Montana cities this week, as agents seized thousands of marijuana plants and froze about $4 million in bank funds.The raids stunned medical marijuana advocates, many of whom believed the Obama administration’s policy was to leave states with medical marijuana laws alone…”
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) needs your help right now to respond to a renewed federal attack on medical cannabis patients and providers. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents raided twenty-six medical cannabis facilities in Montana and two in West Hollywood, CA, in the last forty-eight hours alone! We must tell the Obama Administration to stop the raids and create a federal policy that protects legal patients!
Call the White House at (202) 456-1414 between 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST and send an email right now:
I am outraged by the recent federal raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in Montana and California. Medical marijuana patients and providers should not be subject to harassment or arrest, especially when they are obeying state law. I demand the Administration stop the raids, allow states to regulate medical marijuana, and develop a federal policy that protects patients once and for all. Thank you.
3:45 PM – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is raiding two medical cannabis collectives in the City of West Hollywood right now. There is no word yet on arrests. Protesters and legal observers are needed at both locations:
AHHS (Alternative Herbal Health Services) 7828 Santa Monica (@ Fairfax)
Zen Healing Collective, 8464 Santa Monica Blvd (@ La Cienega Blvd.)
Americans For Safe Access strongly condemns the raids and calls on the Administration to live up to its promise of a more reasonable federal policy. ASA will publish more information about the federal raids and the grassroots response later today. Join the ASA mailing list at http://www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org or follow @ASAdonduncan on Twitter for information.
