norml01 - Page 13
Page 13
Previous ,
Next ,
Original Image
Return to Index
|
I On four prior occasions, this matter has been before
i this Court° Each time, the Court ordered a remand_ The agency's
errors have been glaring and egregious° It refused to accept the
I petition for filings seH NOP_L v. Inqersoll, 497 F.2d 654 (D.Co
Cir_ 1974)_ failed to comply with the referral and hearing re-
quirements of the CSA, see NORML Vo DEAs 559 Fo2d 735 (D.C. Cir.
1977); N QP_L v. DEA, No. 79-1660 (DoCo Ciro Oct° 16_ 1980) s and
adopted a legal standard that was fatally flawed by the inclusion
I of requirements that were logically impossible to satisfy. See
ACT v. DEA_ 930 F.2d 936 (DoC. Cir. 1991). The previously
identified procedural errors have been corrected, and the
i particular substantive requirements held invalid have been
eliminated. But the Administrator's decision is nevertheless
I fundamentally unsound because it rests on an artificial and
logically irrational standard.
|
III. THE ADMINISTRATOR'S STANDARD IS PROCEDURALLY FLAWED
I Petitioners _ opening brief demonstrated that the
I Administrator committed procedural error by failing to reopen the
record after his interpretation of the controlling statutory
l language had been published in the Federal Register° Pet. Br. at
i 32_37° As a consequence; Petitioners were deprived of the oppor-
tunity to submit evidence designed to meet the Administrator's
I standard. Petitioners _ brief also noted that the lapse of time
between the closing of the record and the issuance of the deci-
I sion warranted reopening of the record in light of the statutets
i command for a finding regarding a drug's _currentl_ accepted
I - 8 -
Previous ,
Next ,
Return to Index