Pubdate: Sat, 30 Apr 2016
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2016 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN BEFORE WE LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Congress Should Create a New Federal Research Classification for Scientists.

JUNE 30 could be a red-letter day for federal policy on marijuana: 
The Drug Enforcement Administration has promised to decide "in the 
first half of 2016" whether to change the drug's status under the 
Controlled Substances Act. At present, it is on Schedule 1, meaning 
it has "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for 
abuse" and is among "the most dangerous drugs . . . with potentially 
severe psychological or physical dependence," according to the DEA. 
Other Schedule 1 drugs include heroin and ecstasy; and for many 
people, including those who have petitioned the DEA to "reschedule" 
pot, marijuana simply doesn't belong in that category-because it 
isn't that dangerous, and because, they argue, it has medicinal uses.

Then again, June 30 could bring a ratification of the status quo; the 
DEA has rejected three previous pot rescheduling petitions, citing 
factors such as U.S. obligations under international anti-drug 
agreements and, most important, insufficient evidence of medical 
usefulness. Specifically, the Food and Drug Administration has never 
found marijuana safe and effective as a medicine-claims by patients 
and state "medical marijuana" laws notwithstanding.

The FDA has signed off on a synthetic version of pot's active 
ingredient, THC, to treat appetite loss and chemotherapy-induced 
nausea. It's not clear, however, how the FDA is supposed to assess a 
plant-based substance that comes in myriad forms and has more than 
one active ingredient, deliverable as smoke, a solid or a liquid of 
different strengths.

Those who discount such concerns may have the interests of suffering 
patients at heart.

They may underestimate, however, the pitfalls of promoting a 
substance that is less destructive than, say, heroin but may be no 
more useful, medically, than snake oil.

To be sure, this presents a Catch-22: The DEA can't reschedule 
marijuana without more research on its potential medical aspects; yet 
such research is effectively discouraged by keeping it on Schedule I. 
To date, the federal government has imposed severe limits on the 
kinds of clinical trials that might lead to FDA approval of certain 
uses of pot, based on the assumption that it has no medical use.

A better approach would be for Congress to create a new schedule for 
drugs such as pot that are risky to use but less dangerous than 
others in Schedule I and that are thought to have medical uses but 
require more research.

A bill proposed last year by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) would create 
that category and call it Schedule IR. (The R is for "research.") The 
idea is to make it easier for scientists to obtain marijuana and 
organize studies than it is in the current regulatory environment. 
Mr. Harris's bill is consistent with policy statements by the 
American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, both 
of which favor more research.

It had bipartisan support but got shot down on a procedural vote. 
Lawmakers should give the measure a second look as soon as possible.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom