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 CrakerÕs 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 BittnerÕs 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