A DEA announcement on medical marijuana is set for Thursday, according to several reports. According to insiders, once more the American government will make it clear that it is still against the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will cite the following reason for its decision “it does not believe that marijuana’s therapeutic value has been proven scientifically.” The DEA will therefore not advocate for the legalization of cannabis.
The long-awaited decision stemmed from a 2011 petition filed by the governors of Rhode Island and Washington, and Bryan A. Krumm, a New Mexico resident. They had asked federal agencies to reclassify marijuana as a drug with accepted medical uses.
As it stands marijuana is a “Schedule 1,” which classifies it as a drug with “no currently accepted medical use” in the United States and precludes doctors from prescribing it. The officials along with Mr. Krumm were asking for the DEA to move medical marijuana to Schedule 2.
Medical marijuana and order for it are to be considered as like other drugs such as Vicodin, OxyContin, or Adderall, and be subject to the standard prescription process. While the Obama administration is not yet ready to endorse; it will announce that it will allow more research into marijuana. The officials said:
“The agency will announce one policy change that could increase the amount of research conducted on marijuana. The DEA will expand the number of places allowed to grow marijuana for studies of its value in chronic pain relief, as a treatment for epilepsy and other purposes. Currently, only the University of Mississippi,which holds an exclusive contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is federally licensed to grow marijuana for research purposes.”
It is legal in twenty-five states to use marijuana for medical purposes. Pro and anti-medical medical marijuana activists have already weighed in on the news. Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes loosening restrictions on marijuana said:
“We’re pleased to see that the Obama Administration…understands the science the way we and almost every single medical association in the country understand it.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) praised the decision to allow more facilities to cultivate marijuana for research and added:
“This decision… is further evidence that the DEA doesn’t get it. Keeping marijuana at Schedule I continues an outdated, failed approach—leaving patients and marijuana businesses trapped between state and federal laws,”
