For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
;
Patients File Lawsuit Challenging Federal Government
On Medical Cannabis, Demand FDA Correct Misinformation
Americans for Safe Access suit follows two-year petition process, comes on
heels of new study on effectiveness of medical cannabis
Oakland, CA. The patients advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA)
filed a lawsuit today in the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California demanding that the federal government cease issuing
misinformation on medical cannabis and correct the information it has
released.
³The FDA position on medical cannabis is incorrect, dishonest and a flagrant
violation of laws requiring the government to base policy on sound science,²
said Joe Elford, Chief Counsel for Americans for Safe Access.
The suit charges a violation of the little-known Data Quality Act (DQA). The
DQA requires federal agencies such as Health and Human Services (HHS) and
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to rely on sound science. It also
allows citizens to challenge government information believed to be
inaccurate or based on faulty, unreliable data. The ASA case specifically
challenges the government position that ³marijuana has no accepted medical
value.²
³The science to support medical cannabis is overwhelming, yet the government
continues to play politics with the lives of patients desperately in need of
pain relief,² said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. ³Americans for Safe
Access is filing this lawsuit on medical cannabis to demand that the FDA
stop holding science hostage to politics.²
Today¹s filing is the outcome of a more than two-year petition process and
comes on the heels of a recent University of California, San Francisco study
demonstrating the effectiveness of medical cannabis in treating pain in
people living with HIV/AIDS.
ASA first filed a petition to force HHS * the FDA¹s parent agency - to
correct statements about the medical value of cannabis in October 2004.
Under the DQA, agencies must respond or file for an extension 60 days from
the date of the first petition filing. The government response was a
statement saying that it would not act on the petition, a position it has
maintained despite ASA¹s May 2005 appeal. Using the DQA¹s judicial review
provisions, the Oakland-based organization is now taking its cause to the
courts.
³Citizens have a right to expect the government to use the best available
information for policy decisions. This innovative case turns the Data
Quality Act into a tool for the public interest,² said preeminent legal
scholar and case co-counsel Alan Morrison, who founded Public Citizen¹s
Litigation Group and currently serves as a senior lecturer at Stanford Law
School.
³I had side effects from
morphine patches,
oxycontin, and
oxycodone before
starting a medical cannabis regime that has allowed me to get off
prescription drugs and live virtually pain-free,² said Blackfoot, Idaho
resident Victoria Lansford, a named patient in the lawsuit who suffers from
fibromyalgia. ³The government¹s refusal to face up to the science is
irresponsible and harms citizens like me for whom this treatment is a
lifeline.²
###
ASA is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical
professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal
access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA works to overcome
political and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to
medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation,
education, litigation, grassroots actions, advocacy and services for
patients and the caregivers. ASA has over 30,000 active members with
chapters and affiliates in more than 40 states.
DQA Complaint:
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloa..._Complaint.pdf
DQA Background info:
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/DQA
Steph Sherer
Executive Director
Americans for Safe Access
www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based
organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned
citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and
research.
Join us today
www.AmericansforSafeAccess.org
Headquarters
1322 Webster St Suite 402
Oakland, CA 94612
P: 510-251-1856 ext. 303 F: 510-251-2036
National Office
1730 M Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
P: 202-857-4272 F: 202-857-4273
Pot Rx Lawsuit Filed on Feds 
Linear Mode
