The West Palm Beach Florida News published Government’s Medical Pot ‘Just Isn’t Strong Enough’.
WPBFNews.com (West Palm Beach Florida)
Professor Sues For Permit To Grow Marijuana For Research
December 13, 2005
WASHINGTON — A University of Massachusetts professor said he’d do a better job than the government growing medical marijuana.
Lyle Craker said government-grown marijuana isn’t very good. He’s suing for a permit to grow.
The horticulturalist heads the school’s medicinal plant program. He said government marijuana isn’t potent enough for research.
The head of a group calling itself the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies backs Craker and said the government’s product “just isn’t strong enough.”
A hearing before a federal administrative judge at the Drug Enforcement Administration is due to last all week. The DEA said giving more people permission to grow would increase illegal use of the drug.
A lab at the University of Mississippi is the government’s only marijuana growing facility. A research professor who runs that program said there’s “quite a bit of inventory.”
Authorities Raid 13 San Diego-Area Marijuana Dispensaries
Drug agents have raided 13 San Diego-area medical marijuana dispensaries in one of the largest such actions seen in the state.
The DEA contends the centers were “nothing more than a front for distributing marijuana.”
The DEA said it began an investigation six months ago, partly due to neighbors’ complaints that marijuana was being sold to young adults who walked out smoking joints.
The group Americans for Safe Access said the raids are federal government harassment because dispensaries are legal under California law, but not U.S. law.
Executive Director Steph Sherer said the DEA should resolve the dispute in court, not through raids. She accused the agents of seizing patient records.
Sherer said patients were detained for awhile, but no one was arrested.
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
