Advocates have long pushed for the federal government to follow suit.
Advertisement
“We are tethered to science and bound by statute”, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said Thursday.
Rosenberg said designating marijuana as a Schedule I drug does not necessarily mean it is as unsafe as other drugs.
If the FDA can determine that there is legitimate medical use for pot, then the DEA may change the drug’s legal status. For various reasons, none of the trials demonstrated “an accepted medical use”, the agency concluded. The DEA, for example, spent $18 million past year destroying marijuana plants while people in three states were legally using it for fun.
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.
Currently, the University of MS is the only institution authorized to grow the drug for use in medical studies. The cannabinoids are known to mirror chemicals produced by the human body, that regulate everything from mood to appetite to sleep, and researchers had always been curious about how they could be deployed medically. “This is very disappointing”, said former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, who requested the review. “The bottom line is the DEA is keeping federal law behind the times”, Wyden said. Now the only registered facility is at the University of MS, which has been the single grower registered to supply medical marijuana research for almost 50 years. “We have an entrenched interest in this country that’s built around the prohibition of marijuana”.
“I appreciate the DEA’s focus on youth prevention and for allowing more testing centers which will provide more medical research for more informed national policy decisions”, Inslee said.
“That ought to give the federal government the evidence it needs to reduce barriers to the potential medical benefits of marijuana”, he said.
Advertisement
“This decision isn’t based on danger”, DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg told National Public Radio. “This decision does not address other key concerns like the need for banking services and tax equity for small businesses, operating legally in half the states”.
