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The Mind-Boggling Hypocrisy of the DEA

Posted September 15, 2008

Since the late 1980s, the DEA, in cooperation with the FDA, has successfully marketed and sold the public their own version of “medical marijuana” - it’s less effective, less safe and more costly - yet it’s categorized as a Schedule 3 drug on the Controlled Substances Act, while cannabis remains a Schedule 1 drug.

To date, 36 U.S. states have passed legislation recognizing the therapeutic value of cannabis, while 12 states have legalized the plant for medicinal use upon obtaining a physican’s recommendation. Over 17,000 studies have been done on cannabinoids (the main compounds found in cannabis). And dozens of leading state, national, and international organizations have endorsed the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes — including the American Public Health Association and the American Preventive Medical Association. Cannabis has been shown in clinical studies to alleviate pain and counteract the effects of dozens of illnesses, including AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Arthritis, HIV, Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Multiple Sclerosis. The recommendations from medical doctors and researchers in support of the medicinal qualities of cannabis is overwhelming, and study-after-study have proven its effectiveness. So why does the federal government still classify cannabis as a schedule 1 drug - claiming there’s no accepted medical use?

The prohibition of cannabis has been perpetuated particularly by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which has been the leading advocate against all uses of the plant. Unlike several FDA-approved drugs, there has not been a single death associated with cannabis overdose in recorded history, dating back thousands of years, nor does it carry with it dangerous side effects. The DEA does, however, endorse the use of a prescription drug called Marinol (generic name Dronabinol) - they even refer to it as “medical marijuana”. In fact, Marinol is shamelessly marketed via the Department of Justice’s web site. The prescription drug contains a synthetic version of THC - one of the main ingredients naturally found in cannabis, but lacks other cannabinoids that have been shown to work in concert with THC to produce its full therapeutic value. In addition to being more psychoactive than cannabis, Marinol also comes with several adverse effects. These can range from “feeling high”, vomiting, memory loss and hallucinations to more severe effects such as seizures and a pounding heart. Despite these effects, Marinol is classified as a Schedule 3 drug. Furthermore, for patients, the cost of Marinol can be prohibitive.

While the DEA contends Marinol is a more effective and safer alternative to the plant, their own court proceedings found otherwise. In 1987 and 1988, the Department of Justice held public hearings in an effort to determine if there was any accepted medical use of cannabis and if so to reschedule it from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 2 drug which would reflect these findings. The DEA’s own Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, overheard the case. Over the course of two years, the court poured over thousands of pages of documents and heard testimony from witnesses–including doctors, experts, and medical marijuana patients. The hearings focused specifically on the use of cannabis in the treatment of chemotherapy, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis. The record shows incontrovertible fact that the cannabis plant as a whole is more effective than taking its synthetic pill counterpart.

In treating chemotherapy, the court found, “Marijuana cigarettes in many cases are superior to synthetic THC capsules in reducing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.” And that, “Attempting to orally administer the synthetic THC capsule to a vomiting patient presents obvious problems - it is vomited right back up before it can have any effect.”

Two highly qualified and experienced ophthalmologists, John C. Merritt, M.D., a professor of ophthalmology, and Richard D. North, M.D, who served as a medical officer in ophthalmology for the Department of Health, have accepted marijuana as having medical use in treatment for glaucoma and recommend its use to their patients. Dr. Merritt specifically found marijuana to have an “important place in the treatment of ‘End Stage’ glaucoma. ‘End Stage’ glaucoma, essentially, defines a patient who has already lost substantial amounts of vision; available glaucoma control drugs are no longer able adequately to reduce the intraocular pressure (IOP) to prevent further, progressive sight loss; the patient, lacking additional IOP reductions, will go blind.” Dr. Merritt found, “There are test results showing that smoking marijuana has reduced the IOP in some glaucoma patients.”

Denis Petro, M.D., a clinical neurologist, also provided testimony. As a former medical officer for the FDA, he’s also worked for pharmaceutical companies and as a consultant to the State of New York. He is an expert on Multiple Sclerosis and to this day still speaks on the effects cannabis has on patients suffering from the illness, particularly in its ability to control spasticity. Prior to these hearings, Dr. Petro and his colleagues sought FDA approval to conduct research with spasticity patients using marijuana. The FDA refused their request but did allow them to do a study using synthetic THC. “They concluded that synthetic THC effected a significant reduction in spasticity among multiple sclerosis patients, but study participants who had also smoked marijuana reported consistently that marijuana was more effective.” Dr. Petro said that if he were still engaged in active medical practice, and if it were legally available, he “would not hesitate to prescribe marijuana, when appropriate, to patients afflicted with uncontrollable spasticity.”

Several other well-qualified medical doctors who have accepted the medical value of marijuana in treating MS and spasticity were also on record during these hearings. Among them, Dr. Andrew Weil, a general medicine practitioner in Tucson, Arizona, and professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. “In multiple sclerosis patients the muscles become tense and rigid because their nerve supply is interrupted. Marijuana relieves this spasticity in many patients, he has found. He would prescribe it to selected patients if it were legally available.” Dr. Lester B. Collins, III, a neurologist, then treating about 20 multiple sclerosis patients a year, stated in 1983 that “he had no doubt that marijuana worked symptomatically for some multiple sclerosis patients.” Dr. John P. Morgan, board certified in internal medicine, Professor of Medicine and Director of Pharmacology at CCNY Medical School in New York and Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, also accepts marijuana as having medical use. “If he were practicing medicine and marijuana were legally available he would prescribe it when indicated to patients with legitimate medical needs.”

The court also heard from several seriously ill patients who, after trying a number of FDA-approved drugs with little to no effect, had seen significant improvements through smoking marijuana. One of these patients was Irvin Rosenfeld. Mr. Rosenfeld suffers from a rare form of Hypoparathyroidism which “causes bone spurs to appear and grow all over the body. Over the patient’s lifetime hundreds of these spurs can grow, any one of which can become malignant at any time. The resulting cancer would spread quickly and the patient would die.” Rosenfeld could neither sit still nor lie down, nor could he walk without experiencing pain. The symptoms first appeared at the age of ten and through his teens he took various drugs recommended by his doctor. By the time he reached his early twenties, Rosenfeld’s monthly drug intake was between 120 to 140 Dilaudid tablets, 30 or more Sopor sleeping pills and dozens of muscle relaxants. It had become very difficult for him to sit for more than five or ten minutes at a time because of tumors in the backs of his legs.

Finally, while attending college, Rosenfeld experimented with marijuana. He didn’t experience a “high” or “buzzed” feeling but something miraculous happened - while absorbed in a chess game he had remained sitting for over an hour, with no pain. He experimented further and found that his pain was reduced whenever he smoked. He then told his doctor about his discovery. His doctor suggested it was possible that marijuana was alleviating his pain, at which point he began reducing his prescription drug intake. “The quality of pain relief which followed his smoking of marijuana was superior to any he had experienced before. As his dosages of powerful conventional drugs decreased, Rosenfeld became less withdrawn from the world, more able to interact and function. So he has continued to the present time. After some time Rosenfeld’s doctor accepted the fact that the marijuana was therapeutically helpful to Rosenfeld and submitted an IND application to FDA to obtain supplies of it legally for Rosenfeld.” He is now one of seven remaining patients legally obtaining marijuana on a regular basis from the federal government under the Investigational New Drug program. Recent testimony from Mr. Rosenfeld can be found here.

Judge Young concluded the hearings by saying:

“The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record.

The administrative law judge recommends that the Administrator conclude that the marijuana plant considered as a whole has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, that there is no lack of accepted safety for use of it under medical supervision and that it may lawfully be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II. The judge recommends that the Administrator transfer marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence and the recommendation of Judge Young, then-DEA Administrator under the Reagan administration, John C. Lawn, overruled the court’s decision. Future Administrators of the Agency have and continue to argue that more research needs to be done before cannabis will ever be rescheduled and thus legally available for people who need it. Obtaining permission or financing to do research, though, is another issue. In fact, they actively discourage it. Scientists, such as Dr. Lyle E. Craker, a professor in the division of plant and soil sciences at the University of Massachusetts submitted an application to the DEA in 2001 to grow a small patch of marijuana to be used for research. Three years later, the DEA turned him down. “The reason there’s no good evidence is that they don’t want an honest trial,” Dr. Craker said. Marinol, on the other hand, is available in all 50 states.

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