Although the marijuana community has been waiting for pretty much the whole summer for the DEA to announce that it was finally using its power for a positive use by rescheduling the classification of the cannabis plant to a ranking less threatening to the grand scheme of public health and safety, a recent report from NPR shows that the federal government’s anti-drug henchman have come to the decision to further defend marijuana as a substance that is just as dangerous as heroin.
This past Wednesday, reports began to come to light that the DEA was preparing to announce its long-awaited rescheduling decision for marijuana. The agency gave a story to the New York Times that implied that its decision had nothing to do with the fabled reschedule, though a separate problem altogether that was intended to allow more universities to get into the business of growing cannabis for investigative study purposes.
The Times’ report went on to say that while the DEA was throwing out the idea of removing pot from its list of the most dangerous drugs in the world, “This week, the agency did not take such a step.” However come to find out that was all just a big misunderstanding, as a report from the people at NPR would soon show a discussion with acting DEA administrator Chuck Rosenberg, who told the news source that the agency had turned down the rescheduling requests submitted by a couple of Democratic governors because the federal government was unable to clarify if marijuana did present some therapeutic benefit when used.
It seems that the recommendation provided last year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was that cannabis has “No currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.” Interestingly, Rosenberg wants the cannabis community to know that the DEA’s decision to continue labeling marijuana as one of the most harmful substances known to man has nothing to do with the fact that cannabis has never contributed to the death of a single person.
“This decision isn’t based on danger,” he told NPR. “This decision is based on whether marijuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine and it’s not.” There was apparently a letter fired off to the lawmakers who petitioned the federal drug agency for the rescheduling that said, “Evaluating the safety and effectiveness of drugs is a highly specialized endeavor,” and that the opinions of doctors all across the nation carried no weight in the decision to continue classifying marijuana a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
What appears to be true is that the DEA is gearing up to officially announce that it will expand the amount of federally regulated cannabis to be grown in the United States for research purposes beyond the grips of the University of Mississippi. Although it is not known exactly which universities old Uncle Sam plans to let into his pot cultivation game, there does not appear to be any limits on the number of potential cultivators that could qualify under the updated policy. Many researchers have complained in the past that the University of Mississippi’s monopoly on federal pot cultivation was preventing them from accomplishing any real work.
“If you were a researcher who thought a product with high THC would help someone with a painful cancer, you were out of luck,” John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brooking Institution, explained to the Times.
“You couldn’t access high THC marijuana in the same way you could buy it [legally] in a market in Colorado,” Rosenberg told NPR that as long as all of the new policies dealing with marijuana research is carried out in a suitable fashion, the agency might one day reconsider its decision to reschedule the cannabis plant.
“A clear and growing majority of American voters support legalizing marijuana outright and the very least our representatives should do is let states implement their own policies, unencumbered by an outdated ‘Reefer Madness’ mentality that some in law enforcement still choose to cling to.
” As it stands, the only hope for a less restrictive national marijuana policy is for the DEA and FDA to come to terms on whether cannabis is medicine or for Congressional leaders and the President of the United States to stop pussyfooting around and pass legislation that liberates the leaf once and for all.
Not much is changing with respect to the cannabis plant.
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1 comment
Perhaps if stoners made sense they might rethink it. Till then–ain’t happening.
Its all about perception.