To further medical research, the agency is expanding the number of agencies that can legally grow marijuana for research purposes.
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The DEA’s self-serving decision will have substantial implications for the two million patients that now have access to medical cannabis and cannabis products under state laws. “She will also ensure Colorado, and other states that have enacted marijuana laws, can continue to serve as laboratories of democracy”, Harris continued.
The position of the US government on marijuana has impacts for states that have legalized its recreational or medical use.
“This decision isn’t based on danger”, DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg told National Public Radio.
In anticipation of the DEA’s decision, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) drafted its own independent 8-Factor Analysis. And an animal study several years ago made the tantalizing observation that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active ingredient in marijuana, seemed to decrease cellular damage in gut tissue, which could lead to approaches that limit the spread of HIV in the body. “It’s like the 20 years, consisting of thousands of published research articles, never happened”.
“Keeping marijuana in Schedule I shows that the DEA continues to ignore research, and places politics above science”, Michael Collins, the deputy director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement emailed to ATTN:.
The FDA last evaluated marijuana for medical use in 2006 and said in its latest review that the available research “has progressed”, but does not meet federal standards of safety or effectiveness. The group commented that despite it being a Schedule I substance, 42 states have adopted medical cannabis programs, and the disconnect between state and federal law creates a host of problems for legitimate cannabis businesses and the ability to conduct clinical research.
The criteria for inclusion as a Schedule I drug is not relative to danger, Rosenberg explained, though he said the category includes “substances that are exceptionally risky and some that are less dangerous” (including marijuana). The effort to get the DEA to move marijuana off the same schedule as heroin has been going on since 1972, and once again has garnered the same result. But baked into the Controlled Substances Act that classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug – as bad for you and as unsafe as heroin and LSD, and more harmful than cocaine and methamphetamine – is the provision that the government must provide an “adequate and uninterrupted supply” of those drugs, including marijuana.
“Patients deserve more”, Smith said. Today’s action marks at least the fourth time the DEA has rejected petitions seeking to reschedule marijuana.
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The DEA previously rejected several other rescheduling petitions, including a 2002 petition filed by a coalition of marijuana law reform and health advocacy organizations and a 1972 petition filed by NORML. This is evidence that the administrative process for rescheduling cannabis is broken and unworkable. By definition, substances in this category must meet three specific inclusion criteria: Possess “a high potential for abuse”, have “no now accepted medical use” and lacks “accepted safety for use… under medical supervision”.
