Suit demands removal of cannabis from schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

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