Pipe Dream?

Doblin counters that he is just taking the federal government at its word. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine, working at the behest of the White House drug czar's office, issued a lengthy report that assessed the scientific evidence concerning potential medical uses of marijuana. It's preeminent recommendation: "Research should continue into the physiological effects of synthetic and plant-derived cannabinoids."

Doblin asserts that that is exactly what he is trying to do: further the research into medical marijuana, "which is the federal government's stated policy." He has won an impressive array of allies, including both of Massachusetts's U.S. senators, Edward Kennedy and John Kerry. In a letter to DEA chief Karen Tandy, Kennedy and Kerry asserted that the NIDA facility at the University of Mississippi "has an unjustifiable monopoly on the production of marijuana for legitimate medical and research purposes in the United States. The current lack of competition...jeopardizes important research into the therapeutic effects of marijuana for patients undergoing chemotherapy or suffering from AIDS, glaucoma, or other diseases."

Doblin and Craker are still awaiting word from the DEA on their application's status. But Doblin, citing the public's growing acceptance of medical marijuana, likes their chances. "It's in the DEA's best interest to put this issue behind them, and let us proceed with the research," he says. "Then the ball would be in our court, and we would have to prove that marijuana is as good a medicine as we think it is."

For more information on the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, visit the organization's Web site.