On Tuesday, Americans for Safe Access argued the obvious in federal court, claiming that the federal government is lying when it says "there have been no studies that have scientifically assessed the efficacy of marijuana for any condition."
Under a 2002 law known as the "Data Quality Act" federal agencies must disseminate information to the public that is true. That includes information on medical cannabis, which is why ASA jumped to become the first organization in the U.S. to file suit against the government under the law.
Initially, ASA filed a petition in October 2004 with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) asking it to correct its inaccurate statements on medical cannabis. After waiting for years without an answer from HHS, they finally responded by telling ASA that they were sending our petition through a different proceeding, which would take years to get an answer. Being fed up with the government's stall tactics, ASA took them to court.
In February 2007, ASA sued HHS to force them to at least respond to our petition and to have the court decide whether that response is "arbitrarty and capricious." To refute the government's claim of "no studies", ASA's suit included dozens of scientific studies that demonstrate the medical efficacy of cannabis.
Unfortunately, the district court ruled that there was no right to judicial review under the Data Quality Act. In other words, they said that in passing the law, Congress was simply asking the federal government to tell the truth, not telling it to. But ASA appealed in the Ninth Circuit and, because of the significance of the case, retained high-profile attorney Alan Morrison. Morrison and Ralph Nader co-founded the Public Citizen Litigation Group 40 years ago, and in the oral arguments this week, both medical cannabis supporters and the federal government found out why he's considered ASA's ace in the hole.
The case puts President Obama's statements that the federal government will make scientific decisions based on science, rather than politics, to the test.
A ruling is expected within 6 months.
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It is utterly amazing the depths the Federal Government goes in trying to subvert the Truth.