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White House Takes Huge Step Forward In Fight Over Marijuana Research
WASHINGTON -- The White House took a major step forward on Monday to support research into the medical properties of marijuana, lifting a much-maligned bureaucratic requirement that had long stifled scientific research.
By eliminating the Public Health Service review requirement, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), also known as the drug czar's office, will help facilitate research into the drug.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers had called for the requirement to be lifted.
The requirement had long outgrown today's marijuana politics. Even opponents of legalization have called for it to be lifted. As HuffPost's Matt Ferner reported earlier:
Currently, marijuana research that is not funded by the government must go through a Public Health Service review -- a process established in 1999 by the federal government after a 1998 Institute of Medicine report called for more scientific research into the medical value of marijuana.
It's a process that no other substance classified by the government as Schedule I is subject to and one that researchers and lawmakers alike have criticized.
Under the Controlled Substances Act, the U.S. has five categories for drugs and drug ingredients. Schedule I is reserved for what the DEA considers to have the highest potential for abuse and no medical value. Marijuana has been classified as Schedule I for decades, alongside other substances like heroin and LSD.
It's a process that no other substance classified by the government as Schedule I is subject to and one that researchers and lawmakers alike have criticized.
Under the Controlled Substances Act, the U.S. has five categories for drugs and drug ingredients. Schedule I is reserved for what the DEA considers to have the highest potential for abuse and no medical value. Marijuana has been classified as Schedule I for decades, alongside other substances like heroin and LSD.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/public-health-service-review_n_7635760.html
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