The federal govt. is still blocking the process that would allow the marijuana plant to be brought to market as a prescription medicine.
In the commotion surrounding the Obama administration's favorable recent medical marijuana policy memo, a crucial part of the story has gone untold: For decades, the federal government has effectively blocked the standard Food and Drug Administration (FDA) development process that would allow for the marijuana plant to be brought to market as a prescription medicine, and -- so far -- President Obama is continuing this policy.
This frustrating reality belies the recent pronouncements of pundits and policymakers implying that the FDA has already dismissed the medical benefits of marijuana or that proponents have simply failed to explore FDA approval. Nothing could be further from the truth.
While there is a plethora of scientific research establishing marijuana's safety and efficacy, the specific clinical trials necessary to bring the marijuana plant to market as a prescription medicine are brazenly obstructed, not by the FDA, but by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Largely out of public view, for more than four decades DEA and NIDA have blocked drug development research by maintaining a government monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can legally be used in research.
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Full article here : http://www.maps.org/sys/nq.pl?id=2137&fmt=page
Or here : http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/14 ... marijuana/
In the commotion surrounding the Obama administration's favorable recent medical marijuana policy memo, a crucial part of the story has gone untold: For decades, the federal government has effectively blocked the standard Food and Drug Administration (FDA) development process that would allow for the marijuana plant to be brought to market as a prescription medicine, and -- so far -- President Obama is continuing this policy.
This frustrating reality belies the recent pronouncements of pundits and policymakers implying that the FDA has already dismissed the medical benefits of marijuana or that proponents have simply failed to explore FDA approval. Nothing could be further from the truth.
While there is a plethora of scientific research establishing marijuana's safety and efficacy, the specific clinical trials necessary to bring the marijuana plant to market as a prescription medicine are brazenly obstructed, not by the FDA, but by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Largely out of public view, for more than four decades DEA and NIDA have blocked drug development research by maintaining a government monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can legally be used in research.
[...]
Full article here : http://www.maps.org/sys/nq.pl?id=2137&fmt=page
Or here : http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/14 ... marijuana/