The DEA’s latest review of marijuana’s classification was prompted by requests from the former governors of Rhode Island and Washington.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also released a statement of principles regarding provisions of the Agricultural Act of 2014 related to the cultivation of industrial hemp. The FDA previously concluded that marijuana has “no now accepted medical use in treatment in the United States”, according to National Public Radio (NPR).
“This decision isn’t based on danger”, Rosenberg said.
The decision to expand research into marijuana’s medical potential could pave the way for the drug to be moved to a lesser category. Under the law, schedule I drugs, which includes marijuana, are classified as substances that now have no now accepted medical use. The administration said that marijuana has no acceptable medical use now and has a huge potential for abuse. “So, it’s not as if we don’t have precedent for substances that are unsafe from an addictive point of view being useful in certain medical situations”.
The DEA’s announcement was a response to two new petitions asking the agency to reclassify cannabis. Although advocates have praised the drug’s medicinal uses – notably for treating epilepsy and chronic pain – it will remain illegal at the federal level, in opposition to the 25 states and District of Columbia that have passed measures allowing it to be used medically.
The DEA’s decision puts the federal government at odds with 25 US states and the District of Columbia, which now allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. According to the report, the DEA will now allow additional facilities to grow medical marijuana for research studies into its efficacy in treating epilepsy, chronic pain relief and a variety of other conditions. The weed grown in the University is produced and funded under a contract from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
This change should provide researchers with a more varied and robust supply of marijuana. Researchers must go through a detailed registration process to gain access to this pot.
The decision signals a hard road ahead for legalization efforts, said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former Obama administration drug advisor. As more research is done, more voters and politicians will realize the need to legalize medical marijuana across the nation, and eventually, end cannabis prohibition altogether.
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Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who sought the party’s presidential nomination, does not believe marijuana should be classified next to heroin by the federal government.
