Action: Tell Congress it’s Time to Stop Blocking Marijuana Research

Members of Congress are rallying support to end an unjustifiable monopoly on the production of marijuana for research purposes in the United States. You can urge your Member of Congress to assist in ending this bureaucratic hurdle which impedes much-needed medical research, and support the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s application to produce marijuana for FDA-approved research. Email Congress right now!

On Wednesday, September 21, 2005, Congressmen John Olver, Michael Capuano, Barney Frank and Dennis Kucinich sent out a Dear Colleague letter to Members of Congress in an attempt to rally Congressional support to send a letter to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy. The letter requests that the DEA end a federal monopoly on the production of marijuana for medical research and approve the application of Dr. Lyle Craker of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

At present, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has an unjustifiable monopoly on the production of marijuana for research purposes in the United States, grown under contract to NIDA at the University of Mississippi. Federal law clearly requires adequate competition in the manufacture of marijuana for research purposes. UMass-Amherst is attempting to produce marijuana for FDA-approved research. With the current standards in place, no other institution in the country can produce or import marijuana for research purposes. This is the only drug in which the federal government has a monopoly over production.

The University of Massachusetts – Amherst is one of the nation’s most distinguished research universities, and it is highly qualified to manufacture marijuana for legitimate medical and research purposes with effective controls against diversion.

Providing assistance and rallying support, the Drug Policy Alliance has helped UMass-Amherst and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) on their proposal which would break past the government monopoly on marijuana research.