(Washington, DC) - Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-Queens/L.I.) today called on Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Karen P. Tandy to follow an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ruling that held that approval of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's (UMASS-Amherst) application to produce marijuana for medical research was in the public interest.

“There seems to be a stigma with scientific marijuana research that is completely unnecessary, and the DEA seems willfully ignorant about how science gets done. DEA seems to think that any research will entail excessive amounts of the drug being produced, and that the scientists at UMASS-Amherst, operating out of carefully regulated research facilities, will lead to the country "going to pot." commented Ackerman. "The resistance to this research really shows the government in the worst possible light."

Only marijuana is limited to a single, federally controlled provider. Other substances, such as LSD, heroin and MDMA (Ecstasy) can be provided legally by private U.S. laboratories or imported from abroad for research purposes with federal permission. 

On February 12, 2007, a DEA ALJ found that the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has an unjustified monopoly of marijuana production for legitimate medical and research purposes in the United States. The DEA had previously rejected a 2004 UMASS-Amherst application to cultivate research-grade marijuana after the agency was sued for “unreasonable delay.”  UMASS- Amherst appealed the rejection administratively.  The ALJ ruling, however, is nonbinding, and a decision by DEA Administrator Tandy on whether to accept or reject the decision is still pending.

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