“I am asked as a practicing doctor even in a rural area about medical marijuana use, and I want to make sure I can give patients advice that’s evidence-based”, said Dr. Robert Wergin, board chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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Advocates for both medical marijuana and the outright legalization of the herb were dealt a blow yesterday when the Drug Enforcement Administration rejected a bid to reconsider how it treats marijuana under federal drug control laws.
Additionally, the DEA said yesterday that private companies working on new drug development would be able to apply to grow marijuana, meaning that, for the first time in generations, for-profit companies could develop marijuana-based medicines in the United States with the federal government’s approval.
The decision means that pot remains on a list of drugs that have no medical objective.
Some questions about the decision and what it means. The administration said that marijuana has no acceptable medical use now and has a huge potential for abuse. The drug is categorised as similar to cocaine, heroine and LSD.
DEA released a public report Thursday, where it still considers marijuana a “schedule 1” controlled substance.
“The DEA wants to continue its unjustified war on marijuana”, he said.
But the DEA concluded that, rather than “rescheduling” the drug, “scientifically valid and well-controlled clinical trials conducted under investigational new drug (IND) applications are the most appropriate way to conduct” the research. The Justice Department announced in 2013 that the federal government would not interfere with state laws legalizing marijuana so long as local officials ensured that the drug was kept out of the hands of children, off the black market and away from federal property. Four state-Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado-and the District of Columbia allow the recreational use of marijuana for adults.
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State Senator Tick Segerblom, a prominent figure behind the effort to legalize marijuana in Nevada said with the federal policy of letting the states regulate an illegal industry, he was caught off guard by the DEA’s decision.
