To expand a little on yesterday’s post about Abigail Alliance v. Eschenbach, the rationale articulated by the DC Circuit in upholding a right to access non-FDA approved could have broader implications that would be relevant for the argument on medical marijuana, but ultimately the relevance depends on the way the due process balancing analysis would […]
READ MOREScience Magazine on Abigail Alliance v. Eschenbach
Science Magazine Editor in Chief Donald Kennedy published an editorial Friday taking aim at the DC Circuit’s recent decision in Abigail Alliance v. Eschenbach. In Abigail Alliance, the court said that mentally competent, terminally ill individuals have a due process right to access medication that is safe enough for testing on human subjects. Kennedy says […]
READ MOREFDA Proposes Guideline on Access to Experimental Drugs
The AP reports today that the FDA has released proposed guidelines that would allow “greater numbers of seriously ill patients [to] get experimental medicines [and] allow drug companies to charge for the medicines.” Interestingly, however, the for Better Access to Developmental Drugs is characterizing the proposed guidelines as little more than a “smokescreen.” “They’ve taken an […]
READ MOREAn Abigail Alliance Interview
The Abigail Alliance For Better Access to Developmental Drugs recently lost the en banc rehearing of its argument in the DC Circuit, but this interesting case might well end up ultimately being decided by the Supreme Court. The following is a transcript of a short conversation I had with Scott Ballenger, the attorney who worked on […]
READ MOREBoston Globe on Medical Self Defense and the Abigail Alliance
The Boston Globe has an interesting piece on the movement to assert the right of “” and on the Abigail Alliance’s case still-pending before the en banc DC Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s a complicated issue in part because of the difficulty of drawing the limits on the assertion of such a right. As author […]
READ MOREHard Times and Drug Law: A Q&A With “Dry Manhattan” Author Michael A. Lerner
Alcohol prohibition was repealed in America in 1933, during tough economic times. Today, with our economy in shambles yet again, the discussion around drug policy reform seems to be gaining traction. Michael A. Lerner is the author of the terrific book Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City. I asked him a couple questions intended to […]
READ MOREEn Banc Rehearing in Abigail Alliance v. Eschenbach
How Appealing notes that the DC Circuit’s decision in Abigail Alliance v. Eschenbach will be reheard en banc. This is a big deal. As this blog wrote about in more detail in this post, the conclusion of Abigail Alliance was that individuals had a due process right to access potentially lifesaving drugs even before they have […]
READ MOREFederal Judge Orders Access to Experimental Drug
A federal judge has ordered the drug company PTC Therapeutics to give a teenager access to its still-experimental drug PTC124, which the company is developing for treatment of duchenne muscular dystrophy. This decision would seem to be at odds with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in Abigail Alliance v. Eschenbach , unless the legal […]
READ MOREIn re Noelle M. on Staying Sentences (PC 654) for Multiple Drug Sales
It was not error for a trial court to refuse to apply Penal Code section 654 to stay multiple sentences for sale of methadone even though the separate sales all occurred during a single football game, the Third District Court of Appeal held 12/16/08 in In re Noelle M. (C056780). Section 654 of course is typically […]
READ MOREHabits of the Common Drug Dealer
The post about Honda Accords being “common” drug dealer cars made me wonder what else the courts say is common drug dealer behavior. So after a little Westlaw browsing, here is a list of behaviors that suggest an individual may be a drug dealer: 1. Whistling (State v. Dunson, 2006 WL 400144 (Ohio App. 2 Dist., […]
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