norml10 - Page 7
Page 7
Previous ,
Next ,
Original Image
Return to Index
tRU6 POLICY FOUNDATION TEL : 202-:537-3007 Rpr 26:91 12:54 ft0.003 F'.07
f
7
ing (not contested by the petitioners) is only tha_ a
, "respectable minority" take that posit:ion. The determina-
_,ion as to how much weight to plaee on scientific
uncertainties as opposed to anecdotal evidence in applying
the statutory phrase "current]y accepted medical uses,"
then, is very much a policy judgment which we have no
authority to challenge° See .generally Chevron. We cero
tainly have no grounds, on this record, to dispute the
Administrator's premise that without much more com-
pletz,, scientific data American physicians witl not "'accept"
marijua_a°
Petitioners, however, mount something of a flanking
att:ack o_ that premise. They assert that the Administra-
tor's eight t_aetor test_ which emi,nasizes, in factors 1, 2
and 3, scier_fifie knowledge of ghe chemistry of the drug
and its effectiveness in humans established through
scientifically-designed clinical trials, is improperly drawn
from the Food, [)rug a_,,d Cosmetic Act (administered by
_he Food and Drug Administration) and not _he Con-
trolled Substances Act which the Administrator is aut,ho_
rized to apply. The First Circuit in Grins'pooh u. Drug
Enforcement Administration, 82S F.2d 881,891-92 (1st Cir.
1987), upon which pe_.itioners re!y, had hetd that earlier
criterfa _he Administrator had employed to define
"currently accepted medical use" were contrary to the
statute because they were a carbon copy of those used by
tiae FDA in licensing _ew drugs° The present criteria, it:
is argued, duplicate a number of those original criteria.
But the criteria challenged in Grinspoon included several
elements, such as the availability of patent i_brmation
or FDA-required labelling, which were necessary only to
market, the drug in interstate commerce. These criteria
are clearly relevam to the FDA's mission, but not to the
DEA's, ,'ee Orir_spoon, 828 Fo2d at 887. The First Circuit
never suggested tile DEA Admhfistramr was tbreclosed
from ineorporming and relying on those standards
employed by the FDA that are relevant to the pharmaceu-
tical qualities of the drug. The court merely held that
while FDA approvaI is sufficien_ to establish the existence
Previous ,
Next ,
Return to Index