DC Circuit Orders Supplemental Briefing in Landmark Federal Medical Marijuana Case
October 17th, 2012Posted by Joe Elford
Just hours after the U.S. Court of Appeal for the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in the federal landmark case Americans for Safe Access v. Drug Enforcement Administration, the court ordered supplemental briefing on the issue of “standing.” In a rare move for a case that has been covered by the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg News, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and others, the request for additional briefing indicates that the court is taking the issue of medical marijuana very seriously.
Yesterday’s order asks the petitioners to provide the court with details about how plaintiff Michael Krawitz, a U.S. Air Force veteran, sustained harm as a result of the federal government’s refusal to recognize the therapeutic value of marijuana. During yesterday’s oral arguments, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) Chief Counsel Joe Elford argued that Krawitz had been denied medical services and treatment from Veterans Administration physicians because of his status as a medical marijuana patient.
Specifically, the court ordered ASA to file a brief not to exceed five pages in order to “clarify and amplify the assertions made [by] Michael Krawitz regarding his individual standing,” and “more fully explain precisely the nature of the injury that gives him standing.” The brief is due by Monday.
If ASA can reasonably show that Krawitz has been harmed by a federal policy that holds marijuana has no medical value, the country’s largest medical marijuana advocacy group may also get the court to rule on the merits of the case — whether the scientific evidence of medical efficacy is ample enough to reclassify marijuana from its current status as a Schedule I substance.
We remain hopeful that the science on medical marijuana will prevail over politics in order to overcome the decades-long effort by the federal government to keep marijuana out of the reach of millions of Americans who would benefit from its use.
October 17th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Great job guys. I feel this would be a great time to bring up the federal government’s own medical pot program in Mississippi. The law and this federal program contradict. I feel the brief should have at least one sentence devoted to this matter.
October 17th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
SCIENCE OVER POLITICS! BAM
October 17th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
This seems ominous to me. It seems they are demanding proof that, in their minds cannot be proved, ie a Vet who claims discrimination, but can’t be verified because of the rules. Look out for Catch 22, the Government(Corporate Lawyers) are excellent at this type of deception.
October 17th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
After the votes that come in on the 7th showing overwhelming support for anything to do with medical marijuana or even full llegalization in most states maybe they will start to understand.
October 17th, 2012 at 4:08 pm
The DEA argues that medical marijuana is a drug of abuse. But the same is true for tobacco, alcohol, legal pharmaceutical shelved, and non-shelved drugs listed as Schedule 2 so they can be utilized in treatment by physicians as required. The DEA’s concern to override the legitimate need of millions of suffering patients for relief of their medical symptoms that marijuana can provide, described throughly in their own US Fed Gov’t Patent #6630507 is completelly specious, and without any validation of evidence. Millions of suffering medical patients are legally effectively benefiting therapeutically utilizing medical marijuana as their medicine. It appears the arguments of the DEA would rather prescribe a jail cell, and refer to those suffering patients as criminals, and prisoners instead, benefiting absoutely nobody, except the profiteers of the power structure, and the Big-Pharmaceutical Companies.
October 17th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Wouldn’t the 3000 year old Chinese medical scrolls give historical proof of medical applications and couldn’t the plaintiff use Judge Young’s ruling as a useful tool for proof of the DEA’s arbitrary refusal to re-schedule marijuana since 1988?
October 17th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
How about the US Government patent on Cannabinoids? I would think this can be use in this case.
Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention. A particular disclosed class of cannabinoids useful as neuroprotective antioxidants.
October 17th, 2012 at 5:43 pm
I’m re-posting this from an earlier story…glad to hear that this may actually be getting fair consideration. I just want to make sure I understand exactly what this means…I can be rather dense sometimes
This case is an “appeal” to have the courts force the DEA to take another look at their classifying MMJ in Schedule I, right? Does this mean that the DEA can simply find another way (i.e. word differently) yet another rejection? What exactly can these 3 judges do, in terms of actual, measurable change? It concerned me a bit when one of the judges asked whether or not THEY needed to listen to the “agency”…citing the fact that they were scientists and the judges were not. Help me out here. Where can a favorable ruling actually go??
October 17th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
In order to have “standing” we must describe the nature of our injury– How about starting with the constant low-grade terror that comes with the knowledge that the feds can legally come and take us away? How about the atrocities perpetrated against our providers? The black market prices of our medicine? The denial of “Equal Protection” with Elvy and Irvin?
I have to commit a “federal crime” to maintain my intraoccular pressures at safe levels, even with my use of two prescription eye drops. That adds insult to injury. That is utterly unacceptable.
October 17th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
Rick,please add the terror of being locked up in a jail,where medical treatment is non-existent for inmates.
Example:
Wash. inmate with dairy allergy dies after eating oatmeal
http://www.katu.com/news/local/174446621.html
October 17th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Many of us are in support virtually with tons of data regarding the scientific data backing up the factual medicinal values, and the counterproductive abusive industry set against cannabis consumers. The time to end the corruptions has come. Time to swim up stream salmon!
Hope the DEA all get fired and put to do community service for many many years, perhaps growing farms of cannabis for their victims. hehehe
PS- now the police and judicial systems need to patch their corrupt community service and judicial abuses.
October 17th, 2012 at 10:02 pm
[...] October 17th, 2012 at 2:59 pmAfter the votes that come in on the 7th showing overwhelming support for anything to do with medical [...]
October 18th, 2012 at 4:48 am
“Standing” is a slippery slope. It’s likely that the gov can argue “mootness” based on V.A. acceptance of medical mj in legal states. It’s difficult to separate the medical issues directly affecting classification, from the constitutional violations that result from keeping cannabis in Schedule I.
Because cannabis is Sched. I, I spent thirty years in federal prison and am still denied First Amendment rights of free speech, the right to vote, the right to travel and earn a living and of course, the right to choose cannabis to treat my cancers and sleep issues.
Most unusual is the court’s desire to look a the standing issue at this late date. Standing is usually argued in briefs before oral argument is heard.
This case is so important to every American and maybe to the economic future of our country, that every bump in the road seems like a steep hill.
I wish I had answers and not just questions. Thanks so much to ASA and everyone who has gotten us this far.
October 18th, 2012 at 6:03 am
The Three Judges have to acknowledge that the DEA manipulated the situation to the point where no legitimate science could be presented. Their Bias was clear and present and they haven’t shown the “Dangers” of marijuana and Public records haven’t either. The biggest danger to someone using marijuana is someone in a blue uniform, not the substance.
AND shouldn’t the DEAs own report by Judge Young be heavily considered as it shows that marijuana safe and effective.
October 18th, 2012 at 6:34 am
Mr. Krawitz lives in Virginia, a state that does not accept the medical use of marijuana in treatment. That differentiates Mr. Krawitz from some of the other petitioners in this case that do live in states that accept the medical use of marijuana in treatment. Mr. Krawitz must violate both state and federal law to use cannabis as medicine. The fact the Veterans Administration (VA) denies him treatment while allowing patients in states that accept the medical use of marijuana to be treated by VA doctors does create a denial of equal protection argument. The question is whether the discrimination is justified. I’m guessing this court will either find the VA has a rational basis for the discrimination or that the VA should be denying treatment to everyone who uses medical cannabis whether they are in a state that accepts it or not. Sorry to be so pessimistic, but I’ve been following this case for a long time.
October 18th, 2012 at 6:42 am
This is the perfect time to raise the issue that there is a certain patent 6630507 ( tinyurl.com/cannabinoid ) on the medical efficacy of cannabinoids, which are the reason why cannabis works. The fact that the US govt. owns that patent is conclusive proof that even the govt. knows that cannabis is powerful medicine.
October 18th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
I am a registered patient in Vermont. Because I choose a medicine that is non narcotic I have had my second amendment rights revoked by the federal governments refusal to re-classify Cannabis I no longer take prescription narcotics for my chronic and severe pain. While medicating with cannabis my glaucoma is not getting worse. This court decision is very important to patients in states that have medicinal programs for just this reason. We are not second class citizens.
October 18th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
[...] : Americans for Safe Access Related posts:California’s November Thanksgiving – Legalizing CannabisMedical marijuana law [...]
October 18th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
In ref. to the ques. concerning how the VA discriminates against med. marijuana patients;
It’s my understanding that if you’re receiving opiods from the VA & are caught using marijuana, legal, medical or not, you will lose your VA prescribed opiods . Outside prescription opiods aren’t a problem.
October 19th, 2012 at 5:15 am
This case is about Uncle Sam’s “right” to build a slave class by Puritan edict! This is about the government’s “right” to call a kangaroo court “justice.” Science was never a barrer to the Gestapo, and show trials spit in the face of logic and reason!
October 19th, 2012 at 9:21 am
Can our government do “What Works” best for all the people and not just pander to the big pharm, big alcohol and big oil companies? That is the question at hand…..and has been the question that they, the government has answered countless times in many ways; NO! It seems our government has been bought and paid for and now, the stakes are moving higher and the government is getting lobbied by not only big business, also the huge business of the DEA jailing thousands and keeping the funds they reap. This isn’t a war on drugs! This has turned into a full, all out war on TAXPAYERS! Please, it is time to stop the madness, vote for legalization every chance you get and always do what serves Love, “What Works Best for ALL the people!
October 19th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
Keep up the great work. I don’t understand the “standing” issue (why now), but good luck!
October 19th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
The government will agree to let paitents get safe access but it will be in a form of synthetic pill only. Then every despencery in the country will be shut down and every one that run them will go to prison.So dont be suprised that this could happen.
October 19th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
MENTION THE PATENT! That is the most convincing argument that, even the govt. itself, acknowledges the medical efficacy of cannabinoids!
October 19th, 2012 at 10:53 pm
Gee I complained when I wanted pain help at the Los Angeles VA for 2 torn rotator cuffs (both) as was turned down for opiates due to testing positive for cannabis but not refused treatment.
The Gov may not go for this, what about the kids who do harm to themselves with out cannibals it just seems more compelling trying to prove “standing”
Good luck to us all and thank you so much ASA.
October 20th, 2012 at 2:13 am
This is an excelent example of why I belong to ASA and what can be accomplished by us all working together. Good job ASA….DD
October 20th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
If a party lacks standing, they are forbidden from bringing a law suit. Standing is a jurisdictional issue which means that it can be raised at any point in any proceeding by any party. The current doctrine is that Mr. Krawitz cannot bring a suit challenging the constitutionality of a law unless Mr. Krawitz can demonstrate that he is (or will imminently be) harmed by the law. {What is the harm that Mr. Krawitz has suffered or will imminently suffer by the denial of the reclassification?}
There are three requirements for standing: (1) injury in fact, which means an invasion of a legally protected interest that is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical; (2) a causal relationship between the injury and the challenged conduct, which means that the injury fairly can be traced to the challenged action of the defendant, and has not resulted from the independent action of some third party not before the court; and (3) a likelihood that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision, which means that the prospect of obtaining relief from the injury as a result of a favorable ruling is not too speculative.
So, if Mr. Krawitz can show that the denial of the reclassification has resulted in an “injury”, he can bring the law suit.
October 21st, 2012 at 7:35 am
Don Gaudard has explained standing, so let’s apply that to Mr. Krawitz. Let’s say marijuana belongs in one of the other schedules, or we could even imagine that it does not belong in any of the five schedules. So, the remedy Mr. Krawitz seeks is one of those options, schedules II through V, or no schedule at all. The next question is whether any of those options will give Mr. Krawitz relief from the injury he says is being inflicted on him by the Veterans Administration (V.A.). Because Mr. Krawitz lives in a state that does not allow the medical use of cannabis, the V.A. will continue to discriminate against Mr. Krawitz no matter what the DEA does with the scheduling. The DEA cannot force Virginia to accept the medical use of marijuana.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:01 pm
This makes me very excited.. hopefully science and empathy will win through!
October 21st, 2012 at 5:58 pm
OMG!!! I don’t believe it!!! FINALLY…I just witnessed the first actual mention of this case on T.V. 60 Mins. did a fantastic piece on the goings on in Colorado in regards to MMJ and legalization consideration there (which was great BTW). In the segment wrap-up, the reporter spoke about the current litigation in D.C. Way to go ASA and J.E.!!!! Most of the time, things like this get not even a mention as the media outlets are heavily dependent on Big Pharma for the advertising dollars. Oh so very happy right now!!! I may actually take a “mental-health day” from work tomorrow. Think I’m kiddin’? Watch me!!!
October 21st, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Check it out…GREAT PIECE http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50133577n
October 21st, 2012 at 7:28 pm
If this fails, is there a way we can advertise and have every believer meet in D.C. and have a million man march to show Obama we are very serious about this issue. Can we show them just how many of the public are for this medicine? It’s going to come out that it is the cure for cancer and it also has properties to prevent cancer. I have 3 tumors and I read anything and everything pertaining to medical marijuana. I study this stuff constantly. How can they deny citizens a cancer cure?
October 22nd, 2012 at 2:45 am
We should have a choice in our lives regarding what we take for medicine. Right now I no longer can take class 2 meds, they are a poison in my system. WE SHOULD HAVE A CHOICE
October 22nd, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Standing, even in Medical Marijuanna States there are MD’s who will not issue an order for a CT Scan do to Drug Bias. It Happened to me and I got sent home to have my appendix burst on me. I wrote to the Medical Board of California, but they have no authority if the incident happens on a V.A. hospital.
I had to write a letter to the director of the SFVMAC to ask for an investigation on the E.R. MD who caused me to be hospitalized for 7 days of pain and suffering. I did this in early August and still have not gotten a reply on the results of the investigation. Good Luck to all of us.
October 23rd, 2012 at 3:11 am
I guess I spoke too soon. Mr. Krawitz says he has an Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA) card and cannot get assistance from the VA in Oregon because marijuana is in federal schedule I. Since I based my comments on Mr. Krawitz being a resident of Virginia, my comments are no longer relevant to the issue of standing. But, even with standing, the question is whether the agency abused its discretion and the court has already made a statement that judges are not scientists. The question is whether the evidence the petitioners presented in 2002 was evaluated fairly by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2006. So, even jumping the hurdle of standing does not guarantee success on the merits. It’s interesting that Joe Elford put my name on the list of parties submitting the new affidavit for Mr. Krawitz. I have no objection to it. I’m sure Mr. Krawitz is accurately describing his situation.
October 23rd, 2012 at 3:31 am
I also see I made a mistake by saying the VA is not discriminating against medical marijuana in states that do accept it. Apparently, the VA is discriminating against everyone equally regardless of state law, or, at least, not as unequally as I had assumed. So, the VA is not making any distinction between states that accept the medical use of marijuana in treatment and states that do not. The VA is basing the discrimination on the scheduling, since marijuana is in schedule I and VA approved medicine must be lower than schedule I or part of an FDA approved research protocol. Still, my argument that state laws do matter is clearly demonstrated here. In order to make the argument for standing, Mr. Krawitz has to have a connection to a state that accepts the medical use of marijuana in treatment.
October 23rd, 2012 at 4:48 am
The reason I made all these false assumptions is because the petitioners never mentioned Oregon in their original arguments on standing and it wasn’t mentioned in Mr. Krawitz original affidavit. Joe Elford must have brought it up during the oral argument, prompting the judges to ask for supplemental briefing on it. One of the judges dissented, objecting to supplemental briefing on standing. Isn’t is interesting how my argument in this case (I’m the Intervenor in this case), states’ rights to determine accepted medical use in treatment under existing federal law, now becomes the sole argument Joe Elford is making to establish standing in this case? It’s well settled law that Congress did not intend to prevent states from accepting the medical use of marijuana in treatment. So, how can the DEA make the claim that federal law gives them the right to interfere? If Congress does not preempt state law by an act of Congress, then its a residual state police power left to the states which the DEA is now interfering with.
October 23rd, 2012 at 4:25 pm
it sure is funny how the govt. can deny us
the access to something that helps people but can say its ok for those beers in the fridge right next to little johnnys milk .od on alcohol and die , od on mj “not” and take a nap ..hummm
October 25th, 2012 at 5:46 pm
This is a copy of the a final brief filed by the ASA vs. DEA in federal court in DC … Happy reading all! http://safeaccessnow.org/downloads/ASA_v_DEA_Reply_Brief.pdf
October 25th, 2012 at 5:48 pm
http://safeaccessnow.org/downloads/ASA_v_DEA_Reply_Brief.pdf
October 25th, 2012 at 5:59 pm
The use of marijuana is documented back to 2900 B.C. Check out this site: http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000143
October 26th, 2012 at 12:20 pm
GMK Says:
October 19th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
MENTION THE PATENT! That is the most convincing argument that, even the govt. itself, acknowledges the medical efficacy of cannabinoids!
(In 2003 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was awarded a patent (#6630507) recognizing cannabinoids as having antioxidant and neuroprotectant properties and therefore, capable of treating oxidation associated diseases, eg. stroke or trauma.)
October 26th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
[...] [...]
October 26th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
I hope someone explained to the court:
CANNABIS CURES – Let me tell you how –
All vertebrates have an endocannabinoid system – it controls the other systems in the body. The endocannabinoid system, or the ECS as it is called, is the regulator of systems in the body.
When the ECS does it’s job, part of that job is sending endocannabinoids to adjust the situation, what ever that may be. It adjusts every little stressor in systems of the body keeping us in balance.
When the ECS misfires, due to a lack of endogenous cannabinoids, the body’s systems can not function correctly, they are off balance. This is the cause of ailments of all sorts – from minor things like motion sickness, to major things like cancer.
Cannabis is the only natural substance that has properties equal in all ways to our body’s own endocannabinoids, the cannabinoids in cannabis.
So the cannabinoids from the cannabis fulfill the jobs of the lacking endocannabinoids, preventing disease(s), healing ailments, aiding in digestion, and keeping all systems functioning for optimal health.
Science knows this, now you do too. Tell Everyone! Tell the World!
Many patients need to adjust their ECS so their body will function as it should, only cannabis can do that.
Google “endocannabinoid system homeostasis”. Enter those 3 words on a Google search if you “need more information”.
It’s your body, your health, and that of your neighbor’s too. Tell your lawmakers to stop the manufacturing of illness by depriving humans and other living creatures of the one natural homeostasis necessity for health – the cannabis flower.
December 5th, 2012 at 6:15 pm
So? Any update on this case? When is the next court date?
March 10th, 2013 at 11:03 am
described throughly in their own US Fed Gov’t Patent #6630507 is completelly specious, and without any validation of evidence. Millions of suffering medical patients are legally effectively benefiting therapeutically utilizing medical marijuana as their medicine
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