Government witness Bertha Madras, PhD — a former deputy drug czar under George W. Bush — took the stand in federal court in California Wednesday to defend the government’s estimated $41 billion annual war on marijuana.

The lightning rod federal trial in the Eastern District of California has called into question the constitutionality of marijuana’s status as a “schedule 1 narcotic” with ‘no medical use’ and ‘high potential for abuse’.

Madras stated Wednesday cannabis fails to meet FDA criteria for a medicine, therefore it is not a medicine, watchers said.

In U.S. v. Schweder, San Francisco defense attorney Zenia Gilg and Heather Burke are defending six men on cultivation charges that carry up to 15 years in prison. Defense motioned to declare unconstitutional the continued classification of marijuana in Schedule I, and U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly J. Mueller allowed it — forcing a hearing on the issue.

This week, Zilg called on three medical experts, Gregory Carter, MD, and Carl Hart, PhD, and Philip Denny, MD — who state cannabis is one of mankind’s oldest, safest therapeutic substances. The federal classification of it as both “very dangerous” and “lacking medical use” is untenable.

Government witness Madras argued in briefs that marijuana fails to measure up as a medicine. She equated the drug to heroin, saying don’t smoke poppies for pain relief.

About 22,114, Americans will die from prescription drug overdoses this year, and heroin-mimicking opioid drugs kill more Americans than any other prescription drug. Cannabis has no lethal overdose level, and zero recorded deaths from overdose in human history.

Gilg and Burke, both members of the NORML Legal Committee, argue in Schweder the U.S. can’t ignore Colorado and Washington legalization, and maintain pot is a schedule 1 drug — as dangerous as heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.

“ …the action taken by the Department of Justice is either irrational, or more likely proves the assertions made in Part I (B) of this Brief: marijuana does not fit the criteria of a Schedule I Controlled Substance.”

President Richard Nixon placed cannabis, dubbed “marijuana”, in the schedule 1 of drugs in 1971, overriding the recommendations of his hand-picked Shafer Commission, which recommended de-scheduling it. It’s remained there ever since. Americans consume 2,500-5,000 metric tons of cannabis per year.

Last year the DEA again denied a petition to reschedule pot, but the federal government is encountering unprecedented pushback in its assertions cannabis has no medical value. The government already patented marijuana. One in 20 California adults are estimated to have used medical cannabis to treat a serious illness, and 92 percent of them thought it helped.Twenty-three states and Washington D.C. have medical marijuana laws.

Either marijuana is as dangerous as heroin and prosecutors should shut down Colorado and Washington’s recreational markets, or it’s not and the classification is wrong.

This fall, Attorney General Eric Holder said Congress should revisit marijuana’s schedule 1 classification in light of modern science.

Reporter Jeremy Daw, writing for The Leaf Online writes today that Madras appeared unqualified to speak on cannabis.

“… Gilg wasted little time attacking Dr. Madras’ expertise, pointing out … [she] had never actually treated any patients or directly observed the effects of cannabis on humans. Instead Madras, who also teaches at Harvard Medical School, testified that she based her cannabis expertise entirely on the fact that she had “read the literature” on the subject. … At times, her lack of firsthand knowledge became painfully obvious, especially when she claimed that the THC potency of cannabis found in dispensaries could be “between 1 and 30 percent.”

Madras is scheduled to testify again today. If Judge Mueller upholds defense’s motion, the ruling would only apply to the Schweder case, and could be appealed to higher courts. Judge Mueller could take a month to rule on the motion.