An excellent radio interview on “Shattered Lives” with MAPS Staffer Lauren Anderson Payne.
February 12 was the one-year anniversary of DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittners historic ruling in which she found that it would be in the public interest for the DEA to license Prof. Craker to produce marijuana for federally approved research, breaking NIDA’s monopoly on the supply of marijuana legal for research. Since Judge Bittner’s ruling, the DEA has predictably opted for its strategy of delay and has not yet issued a final ruling in response to Judge Bittner’s recommendation.
On Monday, January 28, Sharon North interviewed MAPS Government Relations Associate Lauren Anderson Payne on Shattered Lives Radio KZFR, Community Radio for the Sacramento Valley. They discussed the current state of Professor Craker’s bid for a license to produce research-grade marijuana for use in FDA-approved protocols. Currently MAPS is working with several other organizations to try to secure Senatorial support for the UMass-Amherst facility. We’re starting to mobilize grassroots activists to contact their Senators to provide local support, in addition to the policy arguments we’re providing directly to Senatorial staff. We’re optimistic that other Senators will soon join Sens. Kennedy and Kerry by signing a letter of support addressed to the DEA urging it to implement Bittners ruling. Let your Senators know that you think medical marijuana research should be put in the hands of scientists, not blocked by politicians! Find your Senators’ contact info at www.senate.gov and call them today! Your calls can make an important difference, in combination with our work in DC.
