CFPHR letter to Drug Enforcement Agency Opposing Monopoly of Research
CFPHR Letter to Drug Enforcement Agency Opposing Monopoly of Research May 12, 2007.
DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy
Drug Enforcement Administration
Mailstop: AXS
2401 Jefferson Davis Highway
Alexandria, VA 22301
Dear Administrator Tandy,
We, the undersigned, are writing to urge you to accept DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Mary Ellen Bittner’s February 12, 2007 Opinion and Recommended Ruling. Judge Bittner concluded that it would be in the public interest for DEA to approve the application from Professor Lyle Craker, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, for a DEA Schedule I license as a bulk manufacturer of marijuana. Professor Craker’s facility would be privately-funded and would produce marijuana for use exclusively by federally-approved researchers.
At present, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has a monopoly on the production of marijuana for legitimate medical and research purposes in the United States. Judge Bittner found this monopoly to be unjustified, since federal law clearly requires adequate competition in the manufacture of Schedule I and II substances. (See 21 U.S.C. § 823(a)(1); see also 21 C.F.R. § 1301.33(b).)
The University of Massachusetts-Amherst is one of the nation’s distinguished research universities, and is highly qualified to manufacture marijuana for legitimate medical and research purposes with effective controls against diversion.
We urge you to accept Judge Bittner’s recommendation that the DEA grant Prof. Craker’s application for registration as a bulk manufacturer.
Respectfully,
The AIDS Institute
American Academy of HIV Medicine
American Alliance for Medical Cannabis
American Association for Social Psychiatry
American Medical Students Association
Americans for Safe Access
Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights
Center for Liberty and Community
Citizen Outreach Project
Citizens for Health
Coalition Against Prosecutorial Misconduct
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project
Compassion and Choices
Doctors for Open Government
Downsize DC Foundation
Drug Policy Alliance
Ethics in Government Group
HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
HIVictorious, Inc.
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Liberty Coalition
Lymphoma Foundation of America
Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse
Multiple Sclerosis Foundation
The Multiracial Activist
National Association of People with AIDS
National Lawyers Guild
Natural Solutions Foundation
The New Grady Coalition
New Mexico Nurses Association (Sent own letter)
Pain Relief Network
Reason Foundation
Republican Liberty Caucus
South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS
The Student Health Integrity Project (SHIP)
U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation
Velvet Revolution
Women of Reform Judaism