Coolguy

Prof. questions gov't monopoly on marijuana
Andrew Miga | Miami Herald | 12/12/2005

Put this in your pipe and smoke it: A University of Massachusetts professor says the medical marijuana grown by the federal government isn't very good. He wants a permit to cultivate his own pot, saying it will be better for research.

Lyle Craker, a horticulturist who heads the school's medicinal plant program, is challenging the government's 36-year-old monopoly on research marijuana. Craker's suit claims government-grown marijuana lacks the potency medical researchers need to make important breakthroughs.

"The government's marijuana just isn't strong enough," said Richard Doblin, a Craker supporter who heads the Massachusetts-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.

A hearing before a federal administrative judge at the Drug Enforcement Administration got under way Monday and is expected to last all week.

Craker's suit also alleges there isn't enough of the drug freely available for scientists across the country to work with.

The DEA contends that permitting other marijuana growers would lead to greater illegal use of the drug. They have also said that international treaties limit the United States to one marijuana production facility.

A lab at the University of Mississippi is the government's only marijuana growing facility.

DEA attorneys defended the government's marijuana, contending its Mississippi growing center provides adequate quality and quantity for legitimate researchers across the country.

"Whatever material is needed could be provided under (the) process that is already in place," said Mahmoud ElSohly, a research professor who runs the cultivation program at the school for government agencies, including a 1,200-square-foot "growing room."

The government's official stockpile at the facility is about a metric ton, he estimated.

"We have quite a bit of inventory," ElSohly said.

Most of it is stored in bulk in barrels lined with federally approved plastic bags.

The most powerful marijuana is stored in a walk-in freezer, part of the facility's storage vault, to maintain its potency.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse oversees the Mississippi facility.

Craker, who has been fighting the government for four years, did not attend the hearing. Doblin, whose group hopes to fund Craker's marijuana growing, said they have confidence in their case, which has the support of nearly 40 members of Congress, including Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy.

"How do you defend the government's case against the public interest that there needs to be more research?" said Doblin, whose group aims to expand medical research on psychedelic drugs, including so-called "Ecstasy" or MDMA. Doblin said he believes there is great promise in the use of "vaporized" marijuana as a health aid.

There was a moment of levity in the DEA hearing room when ElSohly was explaining how the marijuana is sometimes rolled into cigarette form, asking the judge if she understood what he meant.

"I have no idea," replied DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner with a smile.

Both sides expect that a decision in the case is months away.

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vladimir

???????????
yes, the pot grown by researchers, for research, probably under the constant supervision of the govt will end up in some kids stash...i think they've been watching half baked a little too much...

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If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution, and perhaps the end of, the human experiment.

king cola

The DEA is full of sh*t. What about when cops were manfucaturing illegal drugs in their labs to be used in stings? That was ok though? Some of the buyers were even consuming some of the drugs that the cops had made before being arrested. They are worried about someone possibly smoking some pot though

The goverment makes all kinds of claims about strong marijuana and they don't know sh*t about it! Then they prevent people from doing research on potent marijuana The truth might come out that potent marijuana might not be as bad as they make it out to be.

"Craker, who has been fighting the government for four years, did not attend the hearing. Doblin, whose group hopes to fund Craker's marijuana growing, said they have confidence in their case, which has the support of nearly 40 members of Congress, including Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy."

I'm not surprised people in congress are being supportive, at one time they were getting ready to legalize pot without caring about all this research.

mbruffee

What's your source on that? If you're going to make a conspiracy theory claim that cops once planted drugs on people, prove it. I don't necessarily disagree with you, but back up your accusations with evidence.

king cola

It's not a conspiracy, other people have even said it, i have even read about it online, i will find a site that mentions it and post the link. I also never said the cops planted drugs on people. I specifically said that police at one time were manufacturing drugs in their labs to be used in stings. In some of those stings though some suspects had managed to use some of those drugs before being arrested.

king cola

Santa Ana Police Make Crack to Use in Busts LAW ENFORCEMENT
November 1994

The Santa Ana, California Police Department is defending its practice of manufacturing crack cocaine in police labs for use in drug sting operations, a practice that until recently has been kept a secret (Lee Romney and Kevin Johnson, "Police Crime Lab Making Cocaine for Drug Busts," Los Angeles Times, Oct. 21, 1994, p. 1).

Defense attorneys in Orange County are attempting to stop these operations, which they and other law enforcement experts say are dangerous. Police are using the manufactured crack in "reverse sting" operations in which officers pose as drug dealers and arrest those that purchase drugs from them. The display of drugs by undercover police officers is a common tactic in reverse stings. However, departments rarely manufacture the drugs and introduce them into communities. Reverse stings typically use drugs seized in raids.

A similar operation was halted in Broward County, Florida after the state Supreme Court upheld a ruling that found the reverse stings there illegal. Hundreds of cases were reversed. "It is incredible that law enforcement's manufacture of an inherently dangerous controlled substance, like crack cocaine, can ever be for the public's safety," the court said.

Santa Ana police take cocaine that has been seized in busts and cook it into crack cocaine. Lab technicians add a coating that rubs off on the skin of any person who touches the drug. That coating shows up only under a black light and helps police nab suspects who drop or swallow the drug.

Over the course of the operation, police have arrested about 350 people, a large portion of those within a few blocks of Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana. "We're not playing games here," Police Chief Paul M. Walters said. "We're trying to give the streets back to the residents and we're making progress."

Public Defender Dean Allen said that he knows of two juveniles who were arrested in the stings. "If they want to keep kinds away from drugs, I think there are probably a lot of better ways to do it than just to sell them the drugs," he said.

Some police officials agree, and warn that the practice can be dangerous. "I'd hate to be the department that permits this to happen, and it turns out that somebody overdoses or has a heart attack," said Gerald Arenberg, executive director of the National Association of Chiefs of Police in Washington, DC.

According to Santa Ana police officials, no one has been injured in the sting operations, but some buyers have taken the drugs before they were arrested.

heres the link to this information as well:

http://www.ndsn.org/nov94/stings.html


They did talk about putting a stop to it in this article though but the fact remains that this did happen. The DEA however is complaining about experiments with potent marijuana though which would be pretty hard for the public to even consume it. Even if anyone outside of the research managed to consume some of the marijuana, atleast it couldn't kill them.