In the next few weeks, Nicholas DiPatrizio's lab at UC Riverside will receive a shipment of marijuana. DiPatrizio, a professor of biomedical sciences, then will begin giving mice precise doses of cannabis oil to see how marijuana impacts their weight and a host of serious health conditions often linked to obesity. The study marks the first time UC Riverside has received federal approval to conduct research on marijuana -- or any other substance in the Drug Enforcement Administration's strict Schedule I category. It also marks the school's first cannabis-related grant, with $744,000 from tobacco taxes being used to finance this three-year research project on how marijuana affects metabolic health. [continues 1049 words]
Amid budding efforts to research the medical benefits of marijuana, a simple problem has emerged -- how do you research marijuana if no one can produce it under federal law? Despite a solution proposed in mid-2016, which allowed the Drug Enforcement Administration to approve marijuana manufacturers, only the University of Mississippi has been approved, despite dozens of applications to do so. And there's no sign the DEA intends to approve others anytime soon. Advocates seem to blame one person for the delays: Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Ian Prior, spokesman for the Department of Justice, declined to comment on the issue. [continues 708 words]
By the time Ann Marie Owen turned to marijuana to treat her pain, she was struggling to walk and talk. She also hallucinated. For four years, her doctor prescribed the 61-year-old a wide range of opioids for her transverse myelitis, a debilitating disease that caused pain, muscle weakness and paralysis. The drugs not only failed to ease her symptoms, they hooked her. When her home state of New York legalized marijuana for the treatment of select medical ailments, Owens decided it was time to swap pills for pot. But her doctors refused to help. [continues 1629 words]
The explosion that wounded me during a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan in 2010 left me with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress. In 2012 I was medically retired from the Marine Corps because of debilitating migraines, vertigo and crippling depression. After a nine-year career, I sought care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. At first, I didn't object to the pills that arrived by mail: antidepressants, sedatives, amphetamines and mood stabilizers. Stuff to wake me up. Stuff to put me down. Stuff to keep me calm. Stuff to rile me up. Stuff to numb me from the effects of my wars as an infantryman in Iraq and Afghanistan. Stuff to numb me from the world all around. [continues 824 words]
Even as more and more states allow their residents to use marijuana, the federal government is continuing to obstruct scientists from studying whether the drug is good or bad for people's health. A report published last week by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine points out that scientists who want to study cannabis have to seek approvals from federal, state and local agencies and depend on just one lab, at the University of Mississippi, for samples. As a result, far too little is known about the health effects of a substance that 28 states have decided can be used as medicine and eight states and the District of Columbia have approved for recreational use. [continues 408 words]
[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. [continues 769 words]
Marijuana's health effects A new report says the precise health effects of marijuana on its users remain something of a mystery. (Jan. 13, 2017) More than 22 million Americans use some form of marijuana each month, and it's now approved for medicinal or recreational use in 28 states plus the District of Columbia. Nationwide, legal sales of the drug reached an estimated $7.1 billion last year. Yet for all its ubiquity, a comprehensive new report says the precise health effects of marijuana on those who use it remain something of a mystery -- and the federal government continues to erect major barriers to research that would provide much-needed answers. [continues 1147 words]
Researchers combed through more than 10,000 scientific studies to examine the various health effects of marijuana use. More than 22 million Americans use some form of marijuana each month, and it's now approved for medicinal or recreational use in 28 states plus the District of Columbia. Nationwide, legal sales of the drug reached an estimated $7.1 billion last year. Yet for all its ubiquity, a comprehensive new report says the precise health effects of marijuana on those who use it remain something of a mystery -- and the federal government continues to erect major barriers to research that would provide much-needed answers. [continues 1123 words]
It started beside a dumpster. Derek Riedle was hunched next to the garbage bin, tucked behind the back of an upscale Italian restaurant in Venice, Calif. Riedle had taken his wife, Terri, out to celebrate her birthday - and while she sat at the table enjoying a glass of wine, Riedle was in the back alley, taking hits of marijuana off his vape pen. "The inequities of cannabis, the prohibition, occurred to us numerous times over the years, but there was something about that night. I was really moved to do something about it," Riedle said. [continues 1097 words]
If the craziest and most contentious presidential election in modern history is making you feel somewhat lightheaded, a little disoriented, maybe even a tiny bit stoned, well, just you wait. Lost amid the endless (and sometimes endlessly entertaining) stream of insults, scandals, and outright atrocities of the 2016 campaign is the fact that it isn't just the leadership of the free world at stake on Nov 8. Voters in California, Massachusetts, Maine, Arizona, and Nevada will also decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana-and it looks like most will vote yes (although Nevada is still iffy). They'd be joining Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, which permit the recreational use and sale of marijuana. Washington, DC, allows recreational use but not retail sales. [continues 1510 words]
Federal Officials Remain in a Haze When It Comes to Articulating a Comprehensible Policy on Marijuana. Perhaps Last Week's Ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Curtailing the Feds From Prosecuting Legitimate Growers and Distributors Will Help Clear the Air. Half the nation's states, led by California, permit medicinal applications. Four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. In November, California could become the fifth. Yet the federal government still sees marijuana as a dangerous drug and dispensary operators as prosecution targets. [continues 359 words]
The federal government has for years employed a bizarre circular logic when it comes to marijuana. Officially deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical application, marijuana is listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act - on a par with heroin and LSD. Yet that very listing has severely limited the research that could settle the question of whether marijuana does indeed have therapeutic value, as attested to by countless ... ailing people and their physicians who report anecdotally that marijuana eases suffering. [continues 282 words]
A Plea for Descheduling Cannabis NOT LONG AGO, I wrote about the slight, slim chance that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II [Cannabuzz, July 6]. You remember what Schedule I is-it's the list of drugs defined as having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Along with cannabis, some of the other drugs listed as Schedule I are heroin, LSD, ecstasy, peyote, and Quaaludes. Not exactly respectable company. [continues 689 words]
No Rescheduling Cannabis, But Plenty of Other Activity WHAT'S WITH all the federal weed law action? My head is spinning! MINE, TOO. Last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced it would not change its dismal tune on cannabis, and that weed would remain a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Then, the Obama administration announced it would ease barriers on marijuana research, despite the Schedule I restriction. Then, a bunch of federal attorneys general got pwned in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding their prosecution of medical marijuana businesses, which is a pretty big deal. [continues 399 words]
State among several to allow treatment not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Pennsylvania and the federal government disagree about the usefulness of marijuana as medicine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana as safe and effective for treating any illness, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as recently as Aug. 11 kept marijuana in the same drug category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. But Pennsylvania enacted a law in April that lists 17 conditions for which doctors can prescribe marijuana, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, posttraumatic stress disorder, autism, epilepsy and Parkinson's, Crohn's and Huntington's diseases. [continues 1090 words]
Health-care specialists in Pennsylvania prescribe the drug despite the federal government's reluctance to approve it as safe and effective for treating illness. Pennsylvania and the federal government disagree about the usefulness of marijuana as medicine. ELLEN F. O'CONNELL/Staff Photographer The van Hoekelen Greenhouses Inc. facility is located on Lofty Road in Kline Township. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana as safe and effective for treating any illness, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as recently as Aug. 11 kept marijuana in the same drug category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. [continues 1378 words]
Federal officials remain in a haze when it comes to articulating a comprehensible policy on marijuana. Perhaps last week's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals curtailing the feds from prosecuting legitimate growers and distributors will help clear the air. Half the nation's states, led by California, permit medicinal applications. Four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. In November, California could become the fifth. Yet the federal government still sees marijuana as a dangerous drug and dispensary operators as prosecution targets. [continues 352 words]
President Barack Obama has said he considers marijuana no more dangerous than alcohol. More than three years ago, he said he had "bigger fish to fry" than targeting pot smokers in states that permit recreational use. Federal officials remain in a haze when it comes to articulating a comprehensible policy on marijuana. Perhaps last week's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals curtailing the feds from prosecuting legitimate growers and distributors will help clear the air. Half the nation's states, led by California, permit medicinal applications. Four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. In November, California could become the fifth. [continues 374 words]
Federal officials remain in a haze when it comes to articulating a comprehensible policy on marijuana. Perhaps last week's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals curtailing the feds from prosecuting legitimate growers and distributors will help clear the air. Half the nation's states, led by California, permit medicinal applications. Four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. In November, California could become the fifth. Yet the federal government still sees marijuana as a dangerous drug and dispensary operators as prosecution targets. [continues 359 words]
Federal officials remain in a haze when it comes to articulating a comprehensible national policy on marijuana. Perhaps last week's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals curtailing the feds from prosecuting legitimate growers and distributors will help clear the air. Half the nation's states, led by California, permit medicinal applications. Four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. In November, California could become the fifth. Yet the federal government still sees marijuana as a dangerous drug and dispensary operators as prosecution targets. [continues 352 words]
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration delivered recently good news and bad to the nation's growing marijuana industry. It will not remove weed, which is legal for both medicinal and recreational purposes in Oregon, from its Class I schedule. It will allow more experimentation to determine just how dangerous - or helpful - marijuana really is. Substances on the Class I list include, in addition to marijuana, such things as LSD, heroin, peyote and ecstasy. They have no widely recognized medicinal value and they are, according to the DEA, highly addictive. The worst of the worst, in other words. [continues 266 words]
It's possible the result still could be a happy ending. When the "first half of 2016" came and went without a marijuana rescheduling announcement, it became clear the Drug Enforcement Agency didn't feel overly obligated to meet its own self-imposed timeline. But now the DEA has rejected two petitions - one from the governors of Rhode Island and Washington, one from a New Mexico resident - for the removal of cannabis from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act. The federal government will continue to consider cannabis as dangerous as heroin, though it will end the monopoly on research-grade cannabis production. [continues 639 words]
It's an outbreak of reefer madness, meaning the disconnect between federal drug czars and 25 states that allow marijuana for medical or recreational use. The latest instance is the Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to keep cannabis on the high shelf of dangerous drugs. There's a crumb of sanity in the outcome, with the DEA allowing more research into marijuana, but the overall result is extra confusion over national drug policy. In the short run, states will still operate under their own pot rules, a live-and-let-live approach that the U.S. Justice Department accepted in 2013 after going back and forth on cracking down. For California, that means a loose system that makes marijuana easily available and largely unregulated. Proposition 64 in November seeks to clarify this hazy world. [continues 244 words]
The Obama administration's decision to expand opportunities for scientific research of medical marijuana, while leaving cannabis classification under its longtime most-dangerous-drug status, strikes us as an important step, but hardly a solution. The decision is hopeful in that it signals an attempt to end the bureaucratic hurdles that prevent scientific study of the drug that so many advocates claim has curative powers. But leaving in place the stigma and legal problems that a Schedule I designation creates makes the administration's attempt to find some middle ground difficult to truly appreciate. [continues 380 words]
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has just issued a helpful reminder to all Americans. In denying a petition to loosen restrictions on marijuana, the agency repeated that the drug has "no currently accepted medical use" in the U.S. This may come as a surprise, given that 25 states already allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat maladies from PTSD to Alzheimer's disease. Yet the truth is, research has yet to find firm evidence that marijuana can alleviate physical suffering. [continues 395 words]
At least once a week, Steve McDonald drives from his home in Irvine to an industrial stretch of Santa Ana filled with auto shops and home-improvement wholesalers. Inside a beige storefront, McDonald consults with young budtenders about the jars of raw cannabis flowers and rows of infused edibles that fill the shelves at From the Earth medical marijuana dispensary. The 40-year-old said cannabis products help him avoid prescription medications for pain from severe burns he suffered in a fire two years ago, as well as lingering back trouble and anxiety that plague him from his days as a paratrooper in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. [continues 1823 words]
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has just issued a helpful reminder to all Americans. In denying a petition to loosen restrictions on marijuana, the agency repeated that the drug has "no currently accepted medical use" in the United States. This may come as a surprise, given that 25 states - including Nevada - - already allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat maladies from PTSD to Alzheimer's disease. Yet the truth is, research has yet to find firm evidence that marijuana can alleviate physical suffering. [continues 391 words]
Marijuana is just one of many issues in which the government is so far behind the people, it's beyond funny. The Drug Enforcement Administration proved this again just last week when it announced that after weeks of reviewing a petition to reclassify marijuana so it's no longer a Schedule 1 drug, along with heroin, Quaaludes and various psychedelics. Some who follow this issue were optimistic that the DEA might might actually reverse its long-held ironclad Reefer Madness policy. Perhaps the DEA would would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug - along with cocaine and methamphetamine - or even lower. [continues 630 words]
Supporters of a saner marijuana policy scored a small victory this week when the Obama administration said it would authorize more institutions to grow marijuana for medical research. But the government passed up an opportunity to make a more significant change. The Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday turned down two petitions - one from the governors of Rhode Island and Washington and the other from a resident of New Mexico - requesting that marijuana be removed from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. Drugs on that list, which include heroin and LSD, are deemed to have no medical use; possession is illegal under federal law, and researchers have to jump through many hoops to obtain permission to study them and obtain samples to study. Having marijuana on that list is deeply misguided since many scientists and President Obama have said that it is no more dangerous than alcohol. [continues 485 words]
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration yesterday denied requests to stop classifying marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical use, leaving users and businesses in limbo after many states have legalised it for medical or recreational purposes. The DEA though did relax certain restrictions on growing marijuana for research purposes. For decades, marijuana has been listed as a "Schedule I" drug, placing it on par with heroin. The government has repeatedly rejected appeals for reclassification. "Marijuana shouldn't be listed as Schedule I," US Representative Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, said. He said the decision left "patients and marijuana businesses trapped between state and federal laws." [continues 411 words]
WASHINGTON (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. [continues 732 words]
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has just issued a helpful reminder to all Americans. In denying a petition to loosen restrictions on marijuana, the agency repeated that the drug has "no currently accepted medical use" in the United States. This may come as a surprise, given that some states already allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat maladies from PTSD to Alzheimer's disease. Yet the truth is, research has yet to find firm evidence that marijuana can alleviate physical suffering. [continues 177 words]
WASHINGTON - The government refused again Thursday to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, reaffirming its conclusion that the drug's therapeutic value has not been proved scientifically and defying growing support to legalize it for the treatment of a variety of conditions. In an announcement in the Federal Register and a letter to petitioners, the Drug Enforcement Administration turned down requests to remove marijuana from "Schedule I," which classifies it as a drug with "no currently accepted medical use" in the United States and precludes doctors from prescribing it. [continues 871 words]
Federal Government at Odds With 25 States That Allow Therapeutic Use. 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. In an announcement in the Federal Register and a letter to petitioners, the Drug Enforcement Administration turned down requests to remove marijuana from "Schedule I," which classifies it as a drug with "no currently accepted medical use" in the United States and precludes doctors from prescribing it. [continues 969 words]
The Obama administration's decision to expand opportunities for scientific research of medical marijuana, while leaving cannabis classification under its longtime most-dangerous-drug status, strikes us as an important step, but hardly a solution. The decision is hopeful in that it signals an attempt to end the bureaucratic hurdles that prevent scientific study of the drug that so many advocates claim has curative powers. But leaving in place the stigma and legal problems that a Schedule I designation creates makes the administration's attempt to find some middle ground difficult to truly appreciate. [continues 428 words]
Studies OK, but No Legalization, Rescheduling WASHINGTON - The federal government is ending its decades-old monopoly on marijuana production for medical research as the Drug Enforcement Agency announced Thursday it was bowing to changing times. The agency said it would begin allowing researchers and drug companies to use pot grown in places other than its well-secured facility at the University of Mississippi. But the agency did not make the bigger plunge toward marijuana legalization that many lawmakers have been advocating. It passed on a proposal to remove cannabis from the federal government's most dangerous category of narcotics. The drug continues to be classified as more dangerous than cocaine. [continues 597 words]
Studies OK, but No Legalization, Rescheduling WASHINGTON - The federal government is ending its decades-old monopoly on marijuana production for medical research as the Drug Enforcement Agency announced Thursday it was bowing to changing times. The agency said it would begin allowing researchers and drug companies to use pot grown in places other than its well-secured facility at the University of Mississippi. But the agency did not make the bigger plunge toward marijuana legalization that many lawmakers have been advocating. It passed on a proposal to remove cannabis from the federal government's most dangerous category of narcotics. The drug continues to be classified as more dangerous than cocaine. [continues 586 words]
Studies OK, but No Legalization, Rescheduling WASHINGTON - The federal government is ending its decades-old monopoly on marijuana production for medical research as the Drug Enforcement Agency announced Thursday it was bowing to changing times. The agency said it would begin allowing researchers and drug companies to use pot grown in places other than its well-secured facility at the University of Mississippi. But the agency did not make the bigger plunge toward marijuana legalization that many lawmakers have been advocating. It passed on a proposal to remove cannabis from the federal government's most dangerous category of narcotics. The drug continues to be classified as more dangerous than cocaine. [continues 484 words]
DEA Turns Down Pleas to Redefine Drug's Dangers The federal government's fresh assertion that marijuana has no demonstrated medicinal value, which came even as it granted scientists greater ability to study whether it might, is the latest zigzag in a national psychodrama over pot that remains unsettled even as states strike out on their own and legalize recreational use of the drug. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced Thursday that it had rejected pleas to take marijuana off its Schedule I drug list - which includes heroin and ecstasy - meaning the herb is still classified, as it has been for 46 years, as an addictive drug with no accepted medical value and a high potential for abuse. [continues 839 words]
Obama Pledged Science-Based Policy The Obama administration has looked the other way as more than a dozen states enacted medical marijuana laws and five jurisdictions legalized the drug for recreational use, but when faced with what was likely its final chance during President Obama's tenure to loosen federal restrictions on the medicinal use of the drug, the administration has chosen to puff, puff, pass. The Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday denied requests to change the legal classification of marijuana, shooting down advocates' latest push to get the drug federally approved for medical purposes. [continues 677 words]
WASHINGTON (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. [continues 446 words]
California appears poised to join the growing number of states that have legalized marijuana, even as the federal government is reaffirming its 46-year-old stance that pot is a top-tier illicit narcotic on par with heroin and LSD. The Drug Enforcement Administration announced Thursday that marijuana will remain classified as a Schedule I controlled substance - a designation reserved for highly addictive drugs with no proven medical use. Thousands of published studies and extensive anecdotal evidence have indicated marijuana can help with conditions such as epilepsy and chronic pain. But DEA acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said a thorough review of the research, with input from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, determined cannabis treatments haven't yet been proven effective by controlled clinical trials and widespread acceptance from the medical community. [continues 838 words]
Sen. Wyden says laws are 'behind the times' WASHINGTON (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. [continues 732 words]
Growers will be able to apply for licenses, expanding potential for medical research. WASHINGTON - The federal government is ending its decades-old monopoly on marijuana production for medical research as the Drug Enforcement Administration announced Thursday it was bowing to changing times. The agency said it would begin allowing researchers and drug companies to use pot grown in places other than its well-secured facility at the University of Mississippi. But the agency did not make the bigger plunge toward marijuana legalization that many lawmakers have been advocating. It passed on a proposal to remove cannabis from the federal government's most dangerous category of narcotics. The drug continues to be classified as more dangerous than cocaine. [continues 814 words]
The federal government has for years employed a bizarre circular logic when it comes to marijuana. Officially deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical application, marijuana is listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act - on a par with heroin and LSD. Yet that very listing has severely limited the research that could settle the question of whether marijuana does indeed have therapeutic value, as attested to by countless glaucoma sufferers, nauseated cancer patients and a raft of other ailing people and their physicians who report anecdotally that marijuana eases suffering. [continues 317 words]
Reading the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's report on marijuana, on how it should remain one of the nation's most dangerous drugs and has no medical value, we can't help but wonder what rock the agency's leaders have been living under. Or what they've been smoking. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have legalized weed for medical use, starting with California way back in 1996. Three more states Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota - will decide whether to follow suit this November. [continues 391 words]
WASHINGTON - The government refused again Thursday to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, reaffirming its conclusion the drug's therapeutic value has not been proved scientifically and defying a growing clamor to legalize it for the treatment of a variety of conditions. In an announcement in the Federal Register and a letter to petitioners, the Drug Enforcement Administration turned down requests to remove marijuana from "Schedule I," which classifies it as a drug with "no currently accepted medical use" in the United States and precludes doctors from prescribing it. [continues 1190 words]
The Drug Enforcement Administration's decision on Thursday to not remove marijuana from the list of the nation's most dangerous drugs outraged scientists, public officials and advocates who have argued that the federal government should recognize that marijuana is medically useful. Reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 2 drug would have made it easier to get federal approval for studies of its uses and paved the way for doctors to eventually write prescriptions for marijuana-derived products that could be filled at pharmacies, like other Schedule 2 drugs such as Adderall, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [continues 870 words]
WASHINGTON - Delivering a major blow to backers of pot legalization, the Obama administration said Thursday that it would keep marijuana classified as one of the nation's most dangerous drugs, similar to heroin and LSD. The long-awaited decision by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration keeps intact a 1970 law that lists marijuana as Schedule 1 drug, one defined as having no medical value. That runs counter to decisions made by California and 25 other states that have already approved use of the drug as medicine. [continues 963 words]
The Obama administration is planning to remove a major roadblock to marijuana research, officials said Wednesday, potentially spurring broad scientific study of a drug that is being used to treat dozens of diseases in states across the nation despite little rigorous evidence of its effectiveness. The new policy is expected to sharply increase the supply of marijuana available to researchers. And in taking this step, the Obama administration is further relaxing the nation's stance on marijuana. President Obama has said he views it as no more dangerous than alcohol, and the Justice Department has not stood in the way of states that have legalized the drug. [continues 710 words]
