Skip to main content

In Significant Turnaround, DEA Announces Steps To Improve Access To Medical Marijuana Research

In a turn of events this week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) revealed that it is “moving forward to facilitate and expand scientific and medical research for marijuana in the United States.” To do this, the agency announced it will be accepting and reviewing applications from marijuana growers who would like their products to be used for scientific and medical research. This builds on a three-year-old commitment to end the 50-year monopoly held by the University of Mississippi, the country’s only approved grower per a contract by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). A monopoly that has resulted in sub-par cannabis for testing, and thus the U.S. falling years behind the scientific work of other countries including China and Israel.

Nevertheless, many fear the announcement may be too good to be true for the time being given the years of delays and vague language used in the Federal Register notice. According to documents the agency wants to craft and roll out new rules for evaluating and overseeing new growers. Which could possibly signal a means of delaying real action.

The announcement did however get a full press release and quotes from Attorney General William P. Barr who said, “I am pleased that DEA is moving forward with its review of applications for those who seek to grow marijuana legally to support research.” He went on to include buy-in from other agencies saying, “The Department of Justice will continue to work with our colleagues at the Department of Health and Human Services and across the Administration to improve research opportunities wherever we can.”

This is a significant change from his predecessor Jeff Sessions’ position on the subject. It was well documented in 2017 that then Attorney General Sessions effectively blocked the DEA from pursuing at least 25 proposals (reportedly 33 applications have been filed since 2016) for growing marijuana for the purposes of medical and scientific research.

Further, according to the Department of Justice the number of researchers approved to conduct studies with marijuana grow from 384 in 2017 to 542 in 2019 (an increase of more than 40%) – suggesting that the DEA and the University of Mississippi are having to significantly increase the supply of marijuana used in research.

But supply and demand is not the only catalyst for movement on the part of the DEA. In fact, the announcement came just two days before the DEA had to file a response (court ordered) to a lawsuit brought by a research institute carrying out efforts to better understand  cannabis for treating post-traumatic stress (PTSD) in combat veterans. The Scottsdale Research Institute sued the DEA earlier in 2019 after their application for cultivating research-grade cannabis went ignored – along with all the other applications – for years.

In the coming days there is expected to be a public response from other heads of federal agencies, as well updates on the Scottsdale Research Institute’s lawsuit.

Original Article Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2019/08/28/in-significant-turnaround-dea-announces-steps-to-improve-access-to-medical-marijuana-research/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Could CBD Lead To The Development Of Safer Antipsychotic Medications?

Antipsychotic medications are important for managing a number of different psychiatric ailments, including bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, and even dementia. These drugs can greatly improve the manageability of symptoms that often distort one’s experience of reality. They can also create major mood disruptions and lead to a number of behavioral and emotional difficulties. Antipsychotic and anti-psychosis medications can be life-changing for people with such disorders, enabling them to live more normal and manageable lives without their symptoms taking over. These drugs work by regulating neurotransmitters in the brain so that naturally occurring imbalances and dysfunctions no longer disrupt mental and emotional processes. Often, reaching this outcome is much easier said than done; it can take a lot of time to find courses and combinations of treatments that work. It’s sometimes necessary to make adjustments to find the right balance for the individual and it’s not unusual for outc...

A Dozen US Governors Ask Congressional Leaders To Back Federal Marijuana Reform

A bipartisan coalition of 12 governors from states that have legalized medical or recreational cannabis  sent a letter to congressional leaders, asking for their support in getting a major marijuana reform bill through the U.S. House and Senate. The governors of California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont and Washington state are backing  the STATES Act  – which would codify in federal law that marijuana regulations are to be left to the states instead of the federal government – while also seeking protections on banking and tax issues for the MJ industry. “The STATES Act is not about whether marijuana should be legal or illegal; it is about respecting the authority of states to act, lead and respond to the evolving needs and attitudes of their citizens,” the governors wrote. The letter also expressed support for the SAFE Banking Act , which was approved in March by a House committee. Tha...

Feds Hire Hazmat Firm For Marijuana Eradication Training

An ambitious campaign to decriminalize psychedelics in Washington, D.C., is one step closer to placing their measure on the November ballot with the formal submission of tens of thousands of voter signatures. Organizers have been scrambling for weeks to collect enough signatures from D.C. voters by Monday’s deadline amid historically difficult circumstances: a global pandemic, months of stay-at-home orders and protests over racism and police violence that filled the streets of the nation’s capital. But with the help of innovative signature-gathering techniques and allies flown in from across the country, advocates said they had successfully submitted upwards of 35,000 signatures—more than enough to qualify the initiative. If approved by voters, Initiative 81 would make enforcement of laws against plant- and fungus-based psychedelics among the “lowest law enforcement priorities” for the Metropolitan Police Department. It would not, however, legalize or reduce penalties for the substa...