JUDGE TELLS U.S. TO GROW MORE POT

WASHINGTON -- Medical researchers need more marijuana sources because
government supplies aren't meeting the demand, a federal judge has ruled.

In an emphatic but nonbinding opinion, the Drug Enforcement
Administration's own judge recommended Monday that a University of
Massachusetts professor be allowed to grow a legal pot crop. The real
winners could be those suffering from painful and wasting diseases,
proponents say.

"The existing supply of marijuana is not adequate," Administrative
Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner ruled.

Researchers say the federal government's 12-acre marijuana plot at
the University of Mississippi provides neither the quantity nor
quality scientists need.

They testified that the government-grown pot is too harsh and filled
with stems and seeds.

"The material was of such poor quality, we did not deem it to be
representative of medical cannabis," researcher Dr. Ethan Russo said.

Bittner didn't embrace those criticisms, but she agreed that the
system for producing and distributing research marijuana is flawed.

The "competition in the manufacture of marijuana for research
purposes is inadequate," Bittner determined. Making additional
supplies available, she said, "would be in the public interest."

The DEA isn't required to follow Bittner's opinion, and the White
House's antidrug stance may make it unlikely that the grass-growing
rules will loosen. Both sides now can file further information before
DEA administrators make their ruling, meaning a final decision may be
months away.