DEA’s Allegations That States’ Medi-Pot Laws Are Being “Abused” To Facilitate “Marijuana Trafficking And Associated Crime” Are “Preposterous,” Says NORML Head
Washington, DC: Allegations made by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Director Asa Hutchinson in a September 30th letter to California Attorney General Bill Lockyer that marijuana has no medical value and that state laws that have legalized the drug for medical purposes are “being abused to facilitate traditional illegal marijuana trafficking and associated crime” is absurd, according to Keith Stroup, Executive Director of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Hutchinson’s statements were in response to criticisms by Lockyer “questioning the ethical basis” for the DEA’s recent raids of multiple California medical marijuana cooperatives, including a six-patient dispensary in San Diego last week. Lockyer has requested that Hutchinson meet with him and other California officials to discuss the federal government’s position on the medical use of marijuana.
In his response letter, Hutchinson stated that public support for medical marijuana is based on “a common misperception that marijuana is safe and effective medicine,” and alleged that the scientific community has soundly rejected any use of medical cannabis. Hutchinson also added that federal agents are “obligated” to seize marijuana when they see it.
NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup called Hutchinson’ allegations “preposterous, but predictable of one attempting to support an untenable position.” Stroup says that many within the scientific community, including dozens of prominent health organizations such as the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the New United Kingdom Journal of Medicine, support immediate patient access to medical marijuana.
“In truth, more than 70 prominent state, national and international medical groups back the use of marijuana as a medicine, including the authors of the federal government’s own 1999 National Academy of Sciences report,” he said. “For Hutchinson to claim otherwise means he is either willfully ignorant or outright lying.”
Stroup also dismissed Hutchinson’s claims that career criminals are taking advantage of statewide medical pot laws. “Those are wild allegations without the slightest evidence to support them,” he said. “All available data from the nine states that have enacted medicinal cannabis laws indicates they are working as voters’ intended and with minimal abuses. Furthermore, if Hutchinson really believes that the DEA’s recent raids in California were against so-called ‘traditional marijuana traffickers’ and not legitimate medical marijuana patients and providers protected by state law, why has the federal government failed to prosecute these cases? Clearly, Hutchinson’s willingness to stretch the truth in this matter indicates the depths he and his agency will sink to support their ‘Flat Earth’ policy regarding the medical use of marijuana.”
Since September 11, 2001, federal drug enforcement officials have taken actions against more than 35 California medical marijuana patients, growers and cooperatives.
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup of NORML at (202) 483-8751. A detailed summary of health organizations supportive of the medicinal use of marijuana is available online. A summary of federal medical marijuana cases in California since September 11 is available online at: http://www.canorml.org/news/fedmmjcases.html