Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jan 2017
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2017 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Tribune news services - Contact Reporter

U.S. GOVERNMENT WON'T RECLASSIFY MARIJUANA, ALLOWS RESEARCH INTO POSSIBLE
MEDICAL BENEFITS

[photo] Marijuana plants are seen nearly ready for harvest at the Ataraxia
medical marijuana cultivation center in Albion, Ill., on Sept. 15, 2015.
(Seth Perlman, AP)

The Obama administration has decided marijuana will remain on the list of
most-dangerous drugs, fully rebuffing growing support across the country
for broad legalization, but said it will allow more research into its
medical uses.

The decision to expand research into marijuana's medical potential could
pave the way for the drug to be moved to a lesser category. Heroin, peyote
and marijuana, among others, are considered Schedule I drugs because they
have no medical application; cocaine and opiates, for example, have
medical uses and, while still illegal for recreational use, are designated
Schedule II drugs.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said the agency's decision came after
a lengthy review and consultation with the Health and Human Services
Department, which said marijuana "has a high potential for abuse" and "no
accepted medical use." The decision means that pot will remain illegal for
any purpose under federal law, despite laws in 25 states and District of
Columbia that have legalized pot for either medicinal or recreational use.

Advocates have long pushed for the federal government to follow suit.

"If the scientific understanding about marijuana changes -- and it could
change -- then the decision could change," DEA acting administrator Chuck
Rosenberg wrote in a letter to the governors of Rhode Island and
Washington, who sought the review of marijuana's classification in 2011.
"But we will remain tethered to science, as we must, and as the statute
demands. It certainly would be odd to rely on science when it suits us and
ignore it otherwise."

In a warehouse in Joliet, hundreds of marijuana plants sway under
high-intensity lights, taking in carbon dioxide-rich air, sucking up a
constant feed of nutrients and bristling with buds.

Like Olympic athletes, the plants are rigorously trained and intensively
pampered. Tiny predator bugs patrol...

In a warehouse in Joliet, hundreds of marijuana plants sway under
high-intensity lights, taking in carbon dioxide-rich air, sucking up a
constant feed of nutrients and bristling with buds.

Like Olympic athletes, the plants are rigorously trained and intensively
pampered. Tiny predator bugs patrol... (Robert McCoppin)

Rosenberg said designating marijuana as a Schedule I drug does not
necessarily mean it is as dangerous as other drugs.

"It is best not to think of drug scheduling as an escalating 'danger'
scale -- rather, specific statutory criteria (based on medical and
scientific evidence) determine into which schedule a substance is placed,"
Rosenberg wrote.

The Food and Drug Administration said agency officials reviewed more than
500 studies on the use of medical marijuana, identifying only 11 that met
the agency standards for "legitimate testing." For various reasons, none
of the trials demonstrated "an accepted medical use," the agency
concluded.

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.

While the DEA won't reclassify marijuana, the agency did announce plans to
make it easier for researchers to study pot's possible medical benefits by
expanding the number of entities that can legally grow marijuana for
research purposes.

Currently only researchers at the University of Mississippi are allowed to
grow marijuana, as part of a contract with the National Institute on Drug
Abuse.

"While I haven't read it, the outcome is totally out of touch with the
Justice Department, research, the medical profession, patients and the
public. This is very disappointing," said former Washington Gov. Christine
Gregoire, who requested the review.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the DEA's decision "is keeping federal laws
behind the times."

"The DEA's decision flies in the face of choices made freely by voters in
Oregon and many other states about the legality of marijuana," he said.
Oregon legalized pot last year.

The Obama administration's position on marijuana started to ease in
earnest in 2013 when the Justice Department notified Colorado and
Washington, the first two states to legalize pot for recreational use and
sales, that it would not interfere with state laws so long as the drug was
kept out of the hands of children, off the black market and away from
federal property.

Advocates saw that policy statement as the first step to an end of the
federal prohibition of marijuana. But that hope was quickly diminished as
administration officials, including the head of the White House-run Office
of National Drug Control Policy, repeatedly said publicly that they still
considered marijuana a dangerous drug that had no place in the legal
market.

Thursday's announcement was another blow to those hoping the federal
government would change pot laws.

"In reality, marijuana should be descheduled and states should be allowed
to set their own policies," said Michael Collins, deputy director of
national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which supports marijuana
policy reform. Collins said he considered the DEA's decision to be one
that puts "politics above science."

Thursday's ruling has no impact on banking rules for legal marijuana
businesses. In 2014 the Treasury Department gave banks permission to do
business with legal marijuana operations with conditions, including that
they try to make sure that customers complied with state regulations.
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