8/17/13.
For immediate release.
I am Reverend Bryan Krumm, CNP. I am a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
and I have filed a suit in the US District Court for New Mexico
demanding removal of cannabis from schedule I of the
Controlled Substances Act. 1:13-cv-00562-RB-LFG. The suit alleges
the failure and the futility of the CSA's Administrative Process for
scheduling, which is the responsibility of the Attorney General to
enforce and which has been delegated to the DEA. These rules were
enacted to ensure the safety of the American People.
Tragically, this legal process has been repeatedly violated by the Drug
Enforcement Administration, which colludes with the Department of
Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health and National
Institute on Drug Abuse in order to maintain the prohibition of
Cannabis. Meanwhile, the Attorney General has ignored his
responsibility to ensure the DEA acts fairly and legally. I have had a
rescheduling petition filed with the DEA for over 3 years and the DEA
has failed to respond to my argument, that because Cannabis now has
"accepted medical use in the United States"
by 20 States and the District of Columbia it is illegal to keep
Cannabis in Schedule I. This failure of the administrative process has
left me with no other choice than to seek extraordinary relief from the
Courts.
In 1988, the DEA refused to remove Cannabis from schedule I of the CSA,
in opposition to the recommendation of their own Administrative Law
Judge. They cited a lack of "accepted medical use" as their rationale,
in spite of overwhelming evidence of the safety and efficacy of
Cannabis. There were no State Medical Cannabis Programs at that time.
Cannabis now has "accepted medical use" in 20 States and the District
of Columbia. The DEA simply looks the other way and continues to insist
that "there is no accepted medical use in the United States". The DEA
is violating the law by maintaining Schedule I placement of Cannabis in
the CSA and in doing so, they have caused the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Americans.
The Defendants demand that more and better research be done while they
actively block FDA approved research protocols looking for potential
benefits of Cannabis. They claim that the thousands of studies in peer
reviewed medical and scientific journals don't meet their level of
scrutiny, while they engage in pseudoscience that is often never
subjected to peer review. They simply ignore the large number of
studies that have been conducted with smoked Cannabis in both the US
and abroad, unless it is a study designed to find harm.
However, the issue at hand is not even about the research. It is
about "accepted medical use". The quality of the research is
clearly adequate for 20 States and the District of Columbia to have
accepted the medical use of Cannabis. Therefore Cannabis does not meet
the definition of a Schedule I drug which clearly states it can have
"no" accepted medical use in the United States. Cannabis cannot
legally remain in schedule I of the CSA if it has accepted medical use.
Cannabinoids, substances found in cannabis, activate specific receptors
in the body called cannabinoid receptors. These receptors are involved
in maintaining homeostasis and regulate many biological systems.
Because of this, Cannabis has a broad range of therapeutic value.
Because Cannabinoids have little effect on basic life support function,
it is virtually impossible to overdose on Cannabis. There has never
been a documented overdose death attributable solely to Cannabis.
While mild changes in respiratory function can occur from smoking
cannabis, we do not see the serious respiratory problems associated
with tobacco use. Long term heavy use of cannabis has not been found
to have a significant negative impact on overall health, and has been
shown to provide significant relief from a great number of ailments.
In my clinical practice, Cannabis has proven to be the only medication
consistently effective in treating PTSD. In the United States, 22
veterans suicide every day because there are no legal treatments which
are consistently effective in treating PTSD. We have lost more active
duty troops to suicide than to enemy fire in Iraq and Afganistan.
Certainly the brave men and women who serve our country deserve better
than to be denied a safe and effective treatment by appointed
bureaucrats who are not held accountable to the American People.
Cannabis also has unique therapeutic value for treating cancer. In
cancer, cannabinoids have been shown to induce apoptosis, the normal
process of cell death which stops in cancer cells and leads to the
development of tumors. Simply stated, cannabis may kill tumors while
leaving health cells alone. Cannabis may also inhibit angiogenesis, the
process by which tumors take over blood vessels to feed themselves, so
cannabinoids starve the tumor. Finally, cannabinoids inhibit
metastasis, the spread of the tumor to other areas of the body.
Cannabis is far safer than any chemotherapeutic agent but Defendants
refuse to allow human studies to be conducted so we can find out if
cannabis might help save some of the over half a million Americans
projected to die of cancer this year.
Alzheimer's is another disease for which we have no adequate
treatments. Cannabis helps to prevent the deposition of amyloid
plaques in Alzheimer's. It also shuts down the inflammatory processes
which lead to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's.
In my clinical practice, Cannabis has also proven to be effective in
treating depression, anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, irritability,
anger, psychosis, mood swings, pain, spasticity, cachexia, and even the
core behavioral problems associated with profound Autism. It does so
with superior safety and oftentimes greater efficacy than available
pharmaceuticals. It is unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the
DEA to stand between these sufferers and the medication they need to
alleviate their symptoms.
As a Vet, I took an oath to defend the Constitution against all
enemies, both foreign and domestic. By causing the death of hundreds
of thousands of American Citizens, these agencies have proven that they
have no respect for the Constitution or the Freedoms the Constitution
is designed to protect. That is why I have brought this suit, to
demand that these appointed bureaucrats are made to follow the law.
Rev. Bryan A Krumm CNP
