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RUG POLICY FOUHDBTION TEL : 202-537-3007 9p_" 26,91 12:54 No.O05 p.06
6
Administrator exercised with a 'vengeance his prerogative
under Universal Camera Cbrp° u. NLRB, 340 U.So 474, 477
(195I), to reject, the AlE's recommended decision, label-
ling the ALJ's standard for "currently accepted medical
use" as use by a "respectable minor_W" of physicians as
{preposterous. 54 Fed. Reg. 53:784.
tIo
The petitioners renew their argument that the Adminis-
t.rator unreasonably reject, ed the evidence they presented
.(largely anecdotal} that a number of physicians believe
marijuana is medically usefhl and, instead, impropeHy
predicated his determination on the absence of demon-
strated scientific evidence that the drug is medically use-
iht and safe. The difficulty we find in petitioners'
argument is that. neither the statute nor its legislative his-
tory precisely defines the term _currendy accepted medi-
cal use"; therefore, we are ob_ig_ed to defer to the
Administra_or's interpretation of that phrase if reason-
able. See NLRB v. United Food & Commercial Workers
Union, 484 U.So 1t2° t23 (t987); C?_evron U.S.A. Inc. v.
: :Va_tzrat ResourcEs De/ense Co_zncit, D_z., 467 U.S. 837, 843-
45 (1984). And since Congress required the Administrator,
in making scheduling determinations with respect to any
drug, _.o consider the "scientific evide_ce of [the drag's]
pharmacological effect" and the _'state. of current sciem.ific
knowledge regarding the drug, '_ 21 U.S.C. § 811(c)(2), (31,
we do not see how it can be thought an unreasonable
z pplication of the statutory phrase _o emphasize the lack
of exact scientific knowledge as to the chemical effects of
_ the drug's elements. Perhaps if virtually all doctors in the
United States were voci%rous in their espousal of mari-
juana for medical treatmem_notwithstanding scientific
uncertai_ties_the Administrat,or's pesition would be
more vulnerable_ But that is not the case; the ALJ's find-
¢
2'Fhe Administrator farther described the ALJ as retying on
"irresponsible a_d irrational statements," and ghought some of his
/gnd_ngs "appalling." 54 Fed. Reg. 53,783.
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