http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070221/pl_usnw/patients_file_lawsuit_challenging_federal_government_on_medical_cannabis__demand_fda_correct_misinformation;_ylt=Av7.TZq22wmy9y6cRkT.Li4EKekEPatients File Lawsuit Challenging Federal Government on Medical Cannabis, Demand FDA Correct Misinformation
1 hour, 25 minutes ago
To: HEALTH/MEDICAL EDITORS
Contact: Paco Fabian or Kate Geller, +1-202-822-5200, both for Americans for Safe Access
OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The patients advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed a lawsuit today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California demanding that the federal government cease issuing misinformation on medical cannabis and correct the information it has released.
"The FDA position on medical cannabis is incorrect, dishonest and a flagrant violation of laws requiring the government to base policy on sound science," said Joe Elford, Chief Counsel for Americans for Safe Access.
The suit charges a violation of the little-known Data Quality Act (DQA). The DQA requires federal agencies such as Health and Human Services (HHS) and the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to rely on sound science. It also allows citizens to challenge government information believed to be inaccurate or based on faulty, unreliable data. The ASA case specifically challenges the government position that "marijuana has no accepted medical value."
"The science to support medical cannabis is overwhelming, yet the government continues to play politics with the lives of patients desperately in need of pain relief," said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. "Americans for Safe Access is filing this lawsuit on medical cannabis to demand that the FDA stop holding science hostage to politics."