Health and Human Services delays… again.

The expected response to the petition by Americans for Safe Access has come… (thanks to atg in comments)

RE: Request for Correction of Infomlation Submitted by HHS Regarding the Medical Use of Marijuana

Dear Mr. Elford:

Your October 4, 2004, request for correction of information disseminated by the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the medical use of marijuana is still under review. While the goal of the Food and Drug Administration is to respond within 60 days to such requests, we are unable to do so in this case. We anticipate that a response will be forwarded to you by April 1, 2005.

You can see all of HHS’s responses to Data Quality Act petitions here. Some of them have stretched on over a year. The whole 60 days rule seems to have more limited teeth than I first thought, since HHS can simply award itself multiple extensions. However, they still have to respond to political pressure, and eventually they’ll have to answer. At which point, an appeal can be made, etc., etc.
In the meantime, the DEA continues to block re-scheduling efforts and the FDA continues to block research.
An entire bureaucracy just to obstruct, divert, and deny the truth.