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DEA Rules Against Marijuana Rescheduling

Drug enforcers insist they are supportive of efforts to advance scientific research on marijuana. Scientists have complained that it is hard to obtain marijuana from the facility and that even when their applications are granted, the product is often of poor quality. But in May, the U.S. State Department said that interpretation is wrong.

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Read the full story about the DEA’s decision to reduce marijuana roadblocks at The Cannabist.

Political pressure has been mounting to force the federal government to ease up on marijuana. The DEA said it has “never denied” an application from a researcher to use lawfully produced marijuana in a rigorous medical study, and Rosenberg pointed out that research continues on a variety of subjects, including the effects of smoking marijuana in human subjects.

In lieu of rescheduling, the agency plans to loosen restrictions on marijuana research by expanding access to medical-grade marijuana to multiple research facilities, Rep. Earl Blumenuer (D-Ore.) said in a statement.. While the failure of the DEA to remove the plant from the Schedule 1 category is disappointing, it will publish new rules in the Federal Register tomorrow morning that offer some consolation. Companies have sponsored clinical trials of drug candidates made from marijuana, and according to the DEA, the number of scientists registered to study the substance rose from 161 in April 2014 to 244 in March 2016.

Additionally, only drugs under Schedules I and II are affected by the tax provision known as “280E”, which disallows state-legal businesses from deducting normal operational expenses from their federal taxes.

Dope advocates have long argued that this arrangement, and the labeling of marijuana as among “the most unsafe drugs” under the Controlled Substances Act, has sharply limited the supply available for research. The agency signaled the announcement in an email to reporters including Steven Nelson from U.S. News, who tweeted today that the announcement may be about the rescheduling of marijuana. Schedule 1 drugs – which include LSD and heroin, as well as marijuana – have “no now accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.”Schedule 2 drugs, such as the powerful narcotic painkillers that have caused an epidemic of addiction over the past decade, have medicinal value but “a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence”. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, testified before the Senate that marijuana’s Schedule I status means there are “additional steps” that scientists wishing to study it must take and that reclassification would expand opportunities for research. Other statutes would have to be amended to accomplish that.

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Members of Congress have called for its reclassification, and the National Conference of State Legislatures adopted a resolution asking the federal government to remove marijuana from Schedule 1.

DEA Rules Against Marijuana Rescheduling

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