GROUP CHALLENGES U.S. MARIJUANA LAW

A Berkeley-based medical marijuana advocacy group filed a legal
petition against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Monday, in an attempt to force the department to change its stringent
policies on the drug.

The group, Americans for Safe Access, argue that the department's
stance on medical marijuana violates the Data Quality Act, which
requires the federal government to use reliable scientific information
in decision-making.

In 2001, the department concluded that "scientific and medical
evaluation reaffirms expressly that marijuana has no currently
accepted medical use in treatment in the United States."

But medical marijuana activists say this stance ignores current
scientific evidence for the uses of the drug, said the group's
campaign director Hilary McQuie.

"We filed the petition because the document that HHS presented to deny
the rescheduling of marijuana was inaccurate, biased and incomplete,"
McQuie said.

Currently, marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 drug--along with
heroin and LSD--and has no accepted medical use in the United States.

The organization is seeking to push the department to recognize that
many doctors believe medical marijuana is useful in treating patients,
McQuie said.

If successful, there would be one less hurdle to reclassifying
marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug, which would allow it to be prescribed
legally at the federal level, McQuie said.

McQuie said she has high hopes for the petition.

"People are very excited--it's a new approach," she said. "There's a
lot of momentum right now so it seems like it has a fighting chance. I
think we can definitely see marijuana being rescheduled during the
next presidential term."

Nine states, including California, currently allow patients to obtain
medical marijuana with a doctor's prescription. The cultivation, sale
and use of the drug, however, remains illegal under federal law,
leading to tension between states and the federal government.

But some activists for medical marijuana say it is essential to reform
the current federal law.

"It's important so that patients can get safe access to their medicine
and not live in fear of arrest or have to obtain it on the black
market," McQuie said.

Although Berkeley hosts a Medical Marijuana Week, the sale and
cultivation of medical marijuana continue to be hot-button topics in
the city.

On Sept. 21, the Berkeley City Council passed an ordinance creating a
three dispensary quota for the city. Three dispensaries already
operate within city limits.

Measure R--the Patient's Access to Medical Cannabis Act of 2004--will
appear on Berkeley ballots Nov. 2, which would help make medical
marijuana easier for qualified patients to obtain.

Opponents of the measure argue that the new law would exempt new
medical marijuana outlets from review and approval by the city.