The Road of Bones

Medical researchers need more marijuana sources because government supplies aren't meeting the demand, a federal judge has ruled.

In an emphatic but nonbinding opinion, the Drug Enforcement Administration's own judge recommended Monday that a University of Massachusetts professor be allowed to grow a legal pot crop. The real winners could be those suffering from painful and wasting diseases, proponents say.

"The existing supply of marijuana is not adequate," Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner ruled.

Researchers say the federal government's 12-acre marijuana plot at the University of Mississippi provides neither the quantity nor quality scientists need.

They testified that the government-grown pot is too harsh and filled with stems and seeds.

"The material was of such poor quality, we did not deem it to be representative of medical cannabis," researcher Dr. Ethan Russo said.

Bittner didn't embrace those criticisms, but she agreed that the system for producing and distributing research marijuana is flawed.

The "competition in the manufacture of marijuana for research purposes is inadequate," Bittner determined. Making additional supplies available, she said, "would be in the public interest."

The DEA isn't required to follow Bittner's opinion, and the White House's antidrug stance may make it unlikely that the grass-growing rules will loosen. Both sides now can file further information before DEA administrators make their ruling, meaning a final decision may be months away.