Lawyers from both sides of the case have agreed to extend the deadline to April 27 for the submission of final legal briefs in Prof. Lyle Craker’s MAPS-supported lawsuit against the DEA for obstructing a MAPS-sponsored medical marijuana production facility. Prof. Craker’s facility is a prerequisite to beginning MAPS-sponsored clinical trials into the risks and benefits of marijuana as a potential FDA-approved prescription medicine.
DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner is expected to make a decision three to six months after the briefs have been submitted. If Judge Bittner issues an unfavorable recommendation, obtaining a license for Prof. Craker’s facility would require an Act of Congress or much more political pressure on DEA than we have brought to bear to date. If Judge Bittner issues a favorable recommendation, DEA Administrator Karen Tandy would probably take several months to prepare her ruling. During this time, MAPS would help initiate a major collaborative campaign to obtain letters of support for Prof. Craker’s license from many members of Congress, focusing primarily on Republicans, using the letter of support we have already obtained from Republican strategist Grover Norquist.
On March 2, MAPS learned that it was awarded a grant of $35,500 from the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) to cover legal expenses for the DEA lawsuit.
