UMASS PROFESSOR LYLE CRAKER DENIED PERMISSION TO GROW AND STUDY MARIJUANA ON
CAMPUS

Unknown to most students, some of their professors have been
advocating the growing of marijuana on campus since 2001.

This movement took a blow earlier this month when the Drug
Enforcement Administration rejected University of Massachusetts
Professor Lyle Craker's request to become a marijuana manufacturer on
Jan. 12.

Craker, a horticulturist in the Department of Plant, Soil and Insect
sciences submitted his application in 2001 to receive a license to
grow large amounts of marijuana in a controlled environment to
further study its effects for medical use.

At the time, he stated that the marijuana currently available for
such research was inadequate, and that more uniform and better
quality material would be needed.

If approved, findings from clinical studies, which would use the
product created by Craker, could then be presented to the Food and
Drug Administration. The FDA has the power to recommend medical
marijuana as a legal drug.

Craker has received support from a number of people in his
department. He has also found support among government workers,
including a federal administrative law judge in 2007 and
Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, as well as other
members of Congress.

With lawyers still studying the ruling, it is unclear as to whether
or not the issue will be taken outside the DEA and into other courts,
where he can continue work on receiving a license.

"We have a battle in this world over science and politics,"said
Craker. "I want science to prevail. I want to test this material."

Today, marijuana is legally grown at a number of tightly controlled
labs including at the University of Mississippi; however, during his
initial application in 2001, Craker claimed that the drug produced
there was insufficient for clinical studies.

Since then, Mississippi has improved their material. "They've had
seven or eight years to do it," said Craker.

UMass sophomores Chris Fleming and Kyle Lafata both believe that
allowing marijuana to be used for research in the medical field would
be taking a step in the right direction.

"If doctors feel it [marijuana] is more potent in keeping people
comfortable, then an alternative route like this might be more
realistic," said Lafata. "You can never know what can happen until
the research is done though."

Marijuana is being used today to help glaucoma patients, cancer
patients undergoing chemotherapy, aids therapy, and even to reduce
blood pressure. But without approval from the Food and Drug
Administration, marijuana will continue to remain illegal in federal
law.

Fleming believes that those who are opposed to allowing research to
be done on marijuana are naive in believing they can prevent it from
happening forever.

"I don't think people should oppose it just because they don't agree
with it," he said. "It has no effect on them or their life. Some
people like to drink, some people don't. Everyone likes things
different ways."

Craker said he hears from many people asking why marijuana can't be
prescribed as a drug. "They ask 'why do I have to go to the back
alley to get it.'

"All we want to do is investigate it [marijuana], isn't that what we
do in America?" he added. "I'm not in favor of it recreationally, but
I think it deserves to be tested for medical purposes."