The NORML Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with five U.S. Government agencies in an attempt to retrieve all information pertaining to the study and use of the cannabis killing fungus, Fusarium Oxysporum.
FOIA requests were sent this week to The United States Department of Agriculture, Drug Enforcement Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. State Department and the U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey’s Office. NORML Foundation requested a copy of “all records pertaining to the use of Fusarium Oxysporum as a pathogen to the Cannabis species of plant.”
The fungus was developed at Montana State University at Bozeman in conjunction with a private company. In August, Montana NORML filed a civil rights lawsuit against the university seeking to receive all documents about the fungus possessed by the researchers. Florida state drug czar Jim McDonough has also expressed interest in using the fungus despite claims the fungus could be harmful to the environment. Reform activists in Florida have filed similar FOIA requests with their state agencies.
“We hope to obtain enough information to prove that the government is funding field experiments with the fungus,” said Tom Dean, Esq., NORML Foundation Litigation Director. “These tests present a very real threat to the environment and to legal agricultural crops.”
“There is no such thing as a ‘controlled’ field test of a microscopic fungus,” he continued. “Once the Genie is out of the bottle there is no going back.”
For more information, please contact Tom Dean, Esq., NORML Foundation Litigation Director.
