Immediately upon the filing of the petition High Times magazine offered to provide additional support for this project and agreed to join the challenge as a co-petitioner. The support of High Times has enabled me to sustain this long-term challenge without compromising the academic freedom required by the scientific nature of the issues and subject matter involved.
Petitioners are represented by the Law Offices of Michael Kennedy, New York, New York.
Important contributions to the legal foundation of this project were made by court decisions that emerged during a prior rescheduling action that was begun by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in 1972 and concluded in 1994. NORML first argued that marijuana did not have the abuse potential for schedule I status in their original petition, but later narrowed the focus of their action to the issue of medical use in an unsuccessful attempt to expedite medical availability. Important legal precedents resulted from the work of attorneys Eric Sirulnik, Peter Meyers, and Kevin Zeese. Robert Randall and the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics played an important leadership role in this rescheduling action during the late 1980s. Arnold Trebach, founder of the Drug Policy Foundation, also provided invaluable support and assistance to the prior rescheduling action. This current rescheduling action is built on the foundation established by this initial legal challenge, especially the case law produced in its earliest stages.
Thanks is also owed to many other individuals for other various contributions to this effort, including: Paul Armentano, George Farnham, Bryan Krumm, Lawrence McKinney, Carl Olsen, Allen St. Pierre, Keith Stroup, Mark Walker, NORML’s National Legal Committee, and the staff of NORML.
Additional recognition is due to the extremely helpful staffs of the Law Library of the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Archives.
The most significant work that made this effort possible is that of the scientists and researchers cited in the rescheduling petition and/or the review documents prepared as part of these proceedings. One of the most important scientific developments in marijuana-related research was the discovery of the cannabinoid receptor system by Allyn Howlett and her research team at Washington University in 1988. Additional important work on characterizing the receptor system was accomplished by Miles Herkenham and his team at the National Institute of Mental Health. Other key contributions to understanding the receptor system were provided by Rapheal Mechoulam, the primary discoverer of THC, and William Devane, a research assistant to Howlett who also discovered and named the natural substance that activates the cannabinoid receptor Anandamine (after the Sanskrit word for bliss). Leo Hollister wrote one of the most widely respected reviews of the health aspects of cannabis use in 1986 and has made many other important contributions to the study of cannabinoids. Another important contributor to cannabinoid research is Billy Martin of the Virginia College of Medicine. The work of Lester Grinspoon and that of Norman Zinberg is also of tremendous importance to understanding research on marijuana use in general and medical marijuana use in particular. As explained in the introduction to the material on the website a report by the Office of Technology Assessment was instrumental in providing an orientation on new scientific research on addiction. Reports prepared for the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences have also been of great assistance in establishing norms and baselines for the review of the research findings over time. The work of the College on the Problems of Drug Dependence has also played an important role in the preparation of the petition and review of research findings. The work of these individuals and organizations are integral to the scientific aspect of the petition’s argument, as is the other scientific material cited in the record.