The national trend of states legalizing medical marijuana is not enough to sway the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule marijuana as medicinal, the agency said Thursday.
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The decision to expand research into marijuana’s medical potential could pave the way for the drug to be moved to a lesser category.
Schedule-2 drugs are chemicals defined as drugs with a high abuse potential – or chemicals that can lead to severe psychological or physical dependence, like cocaine, meth, adderall, and Ritalin.
This announcement conflicts the federal goverment’s stance on medical marijuana with that of 25 states and the District of Columbia that have legalized the use of medical marijuana.
For decades, marijuana has been listed as a “Schedule I” drug, placing it on par with heroin.
The reason: marijuana’s DEA drug status prevents scientists from using large quantities of the plant in medical research, Wergin and Bostwick said. “I am disappointed that we don’t have a national standard for at least medical marijuana”, he said.
We’re in the habit of using quote marks around “medical” marijuana because, well, despite the branding effort by the pro-pot lobby there really is no such thing as “medical” pot.
But the DEA has ruled that more research needs to be done to determine the medical effectiveness of marijuana and the agency has loosened the regulations on marijuana research.
The DEA announced yesterday that it will permit other organizations to apply as registered marijuana suppliers to enable research groups, including universities, to conduct more clinical studies on the drug, RT News reports. According to a policy statement on the Federal Register, “persons may become registered with DEA to grow marijuana not only to supply federally funded or other academic researchers, but also for strictly commercial endeavors funded by the private sector and aimed at drug product development”. But, as the DEA petition makes clear, it is still illegal under federal law.
On Thursday, DEA maintained that marijuana would remain in the most restricted class of controlled substances.
While some say the ruling gives experts more time to discover breakthroughs, advocates view it as a step back for those who depend on marijuana for medical purposes.
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“The DEA’s refusal to remove marijuana from Schedule I is, quite frankly, mind-boggling”, Marijuana Policy Project spokesperson Mason Tvert said.
