AZ Doctor’s Lawsuit Against DEA for Cannabis Research Gets Dismissed

A lawsuit against the DEA that was led by Dr. Sue Sisley regarding the Administration’s process to approve new applications to cultivate marijuana for research purposes in the U.S. has been tossed out by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The lawsuit claimed the DEA was stalling on approving new marijuana growers for marijuana to be used for medical research.

Dr. Sisley argued that the University of Mississippi remains the sole supplier of medical marijuana for federal research purposes and the lack of variety and low quality coming from them inhibited the potential outcomes of research studies, Westword reported.

Three years ago the DEA said it was opening up the application process for cultivators to produce medical marijuana for research purposes. None have been approved yet. In August the DEA said it’d start expediting the review process for applications already received.

The public comment period regarding the process ended last week. That now gives the DEA 90 additional days to make a ruling on the applications.

Dr. Sisley, an Arizona-based researcher, concluded the first-ever clinical trial of medical marijuana for PTSD in February 2019.