GROUP SUES FEDS OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLAIMS

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Armed with a new study that showed smoking
marijuana eased pain in some HIV patients, medical marijuana
advocates sued the federal government Wednesday over its claim that
pot has no accepted medical benefits.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by Americans for Safe Access
accuses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of engaging
in "arbitrary and unlawful behavior" that prevents "sick and dying
persons from seeking to obtain medicine that could provide them
needed, and often lifesaving relief."

The Oakland-based advocacy group wants a judge to force the
department and the Food and Drug Administration to stop giving out
information that casts doubt on the efficacy of marijuana in treating
various illnesses.

"The FDA position on medical cannabis is incorrect, dishonest and a
flagrant violation of laws requiring the government to base policy on
sound science," Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe
Access, said in a statement.

California is one of 11 states where marijuana use is legal for
people with a doctor's recommendation, but because the U.S.
government does not recognize pot's medical benefits patients can
still be arrested and prosecuted by federal authorities.

Last week, researchers from the University of California, San
Francisco reported in the journal Neurology that a test involving 50
HIV patients showed that those who smoked pot experienced much less
pain than those given placebos.

Americans for Safe Access said in the lawsuit that Health and Human
Services has rejected its requests to retract the assertion that
cannabis "has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the
United States," a position the agency has advertised since 2000.

Countering that statement by petitioning the government and
distributing evidence that marijuana eases the symptoms of cancer,
multiple sclerosis, HIV and other conditions has cost Americans for
Safe Access more than $100,000, the group said in its suit.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately have
a response to the lawsuit.