SUIT TO MAKE FEDS ADMIT POT'S BENEFITS REJECTED

An advocacy group's attempt to force the federal government to
concede that marijuana could have therapeutic qualities has been
snuffed by an appeals court.

Americans for Safe Access sued the government in 2007 under the
Information Quality Act, a decade-old law that allows people to
compel federal officials to correct false statements. Private
citizens must show that a statement affects them and fails to meet an
agency's published standards for accuracy.

The organization said its members include seriously ill people who
have been discouraged from using marijuana by the Department of
Health and Human Services' long-standing position, stated most
recently in 2001, that the drug has no medical value.

The department declined to respond to the request. It said the Drug
Enforcement Administration was still considering the issue in its
review of Americans for Safe Access' 2002 application to reconsider
the status of marijuana.

The DEA classifies pot as among the most dangerous drugs, with no
legitimate use.

On Thursday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco
said the lawsuit was premature because the government is still
pondering the 8-year-old request. The agency has not yet taken a
final action that can be challenged in court, the three-judge panel said.

Joseph Elford, the group's lawyer, wasn't convinced. Federal
officials continue to insist that marijuana has no accepted medical
use, he said, and have declared as recently as 2008 that a decision
on the status of marijuana was imminent.

Elford said he would ask the court for a rehearing.