Americans for Safe Access Legally Challenge DEA Misinformation about Pot

If teenagers can sue the federal government over its insufficient action on climate change, why can’t a non-profit petition the U.S. Justice Department to require the DEA to stop issuing false and misleading information about weed?

Americans for Safe Access (ASA), represented pro bono by the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, cites 25 alleged DEA violations against the Information Quality Act (IQA).

The law, AKA the Data Quality Act, requires federal agencies to draft guidelines that ensure the “quality, objectivity, utility and integrity of information” they distribute and to provide a mechanism to correct any misinformation.

In other words, stop using fake news to justify the existence of an already discredited agency.

“We have taken this action to stop the DEA’s relentless campaign of misinformation about the health risks of medical cannabis in its tracks,” Vickie Feeman, an attorney on the case, told the National Law Journal. “We’re hoping this is a very straightforward petition. We’re going after specific statements they themselves have said in recent reports are wrong.”

With the petition citing 25 violations under the IQA, it seems the DEA just can’t stop itself.

It continues to disseminate statements about the health risks of medical cannabis that have been refuted by the DEA itself in its own recent report: “Denial of Petition to Initiate Proceedings to Reschedule Marijuana.” Go figure.

In case you’re not in the mood to read the DEA’s 80-page report, suffice it to say, states the ASA’s petition, that “the DEA’s recent statements confirm scientific facts about medical cannabis that have long been accepted by a majority of the scientific community.”

Need an example of the outlandish and wildly contradictory remarks the DEA can’t seem to stop making?

“Evidence of the damage to mental health caused by cannabis use—from loss of concentration to paranoia, aggressiveness and outright psychosis—is mounting and cannot be ignored,” the DEA claimed.

Then, the DEA proceeded to contradict itself: “At present, the available data do not suggest a causative link between marijuana use and the development of psychosis.”

Hence, ASA decided to challenge the nonsensical and contradictory babble coming from the DEA. And for good reason.

“The presentation of scientifically unfounded information alongside scientifically accurate information obscures and diminishes the utility of the accurate information and can jeopardize public health,” states ASA on its website. “Moreover, the disingenuous presentation of inaccurate information makes it difficult for public officials and medical providers to make informed decisions regarding the viability of medical cannabis treatment options.”

The petition was filed on December 5, 2106. The Justice Department, according to its guidelines, has 60 days to respond.

Stay tuned.

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