
The U.S. government has signed off on a long-delayed study looking at marijuana as a treatment for military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, a development that drug researchers are hailing as a major shift in U.S. policy.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ decision surprised marijuana advocates who have struggled for decades to secure federal approval for research into the drug’s medical uses.
The proposal from the University of Arizona was long ago cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, but researchers had been unable to purchase marijuana from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The agency’s Mississippi research farm is the only federally-sanctioned source of the drug.
In a letter last week, HHS cleared the purchase of medical marijuana by the studies’ chief financial backer, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which supports medical research and legalization of marijuana and other drugs.
“MAPS has been working for over 22 years to start marijuana drug development research, and this is the first time we’ve been granted permission to purchase marijuana from NIDA,” the Boston-based group said in a statement…
Which serves to reinforce the fact that it doesn’t matter whether we have a conservative or liberal government in Washington, DC. Both are constituted of cowards who fear science almost as much as they fear the ignorance of voters who assure their power and petty lordships. They follow, ignoring every opportunity to lead.
Political times change and that’s what changes policies and protocols. The brave men and women who rejected the jive War on Drugs and fought for real change for decades have moved the public far enough to allow opportunist politicians to join the struggle for a sane drugs policy. Or at least put their pedicured toes into the water.
While more than 1 million Americans take medical marijuana — usually for chronic pain — rigorous medical research into the drug’s effects has been limited, in part due to federal restrictions.
Marijuana remains a Schedule I substance under the federal government’s Controlled Substance Act. That means the drug is considered a high-risk for abuse with no accepted medical applications.
Most politicians know better. Most bureaucrats know better. The folks who deserve the credit for this tiny advance are the doctors and stoners, scientists and honest advocates who built a successful political movement strong enough to overcome the two gangs of political hacks we are allowed to vote for.