“As a researcher, Dr. David Layton can survey the chronic-pain patients addicted to opioids he works with and ask them if and how they’re using marijuana to manage their symptoms.
Here’s what he can’t do. As much as he’d like to, he can’t buy those same strains and work with colleagues in the Washington State University College of Pharmacy to analyze them and break down their cannabis compounds. He can’t test those compounds in animals to see which combinations are most effective for treating pain.
And he especially can’t bring people into his lab, and complete a pilot study which would only take few months at most.
Welcome to the confusing, contradictory world of medical cannabis research.”
The rest of is a highly informational read. Highest recommendation for providing behind-the-scenes insight into scientists’ own points of view.
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So. Wait for the science…..?
People do keep saying that. Wait for the FDA, wait for the DEA, wait for new suppliers to NIDA, wait for reform bills to quit being bottled up in Congressional committees. Uhh-huh. We all get it. Loud and clear.
The more we follow the story, the clearer it is that “the waiters” – the people advising us to wait – are themselves a key reason why – while we have a plenty of science that validates the efficacy of cannabis for everything in the Initiative – we have less than we’d like… …nearly completely, because as this article points out, the multi-agency embargo on research projects continues with no rule reform in the same cumbersome, tangled restraints placed on cannabis studies since….. ….1973…!!
Which hurts everyone. Science. Patients. Society.
Relief delayed is often relief denied in the world of illness. Researchers’ highest potential isn’t used. Economic activity remains in restricted hands. And more….
Also, the DEA is not alone on Schedule 1. This article notes they’re relying on a report from the Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recommending NOT rescheduling cannabis for some cover.
So more letters in the alphabet soup jungle of the sprawling federal cannabis prohibition bureaucracy, which has become increasingly entwined in law and practice since 1937.
Surely the national government we trust to administer so much of our lives can do better?
#MMJ #Research #FDA #DEA #NIDA #DHHS #EnoughWaiting #TRUCE
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See full article – Despite serious opioid crisis, research on medical marijuana remains stifled by federal rules
