This is only smart politics in 2018 when 90% of US citizens favor fully legal medicinal cannabis.
The bureaucratic DEA and special interest-influenced FDA (not to mention locally, the UMA) are being (correctly as we see it) revealed as nothing more than cornered Blue Meanies who are primarily obstructing only patient access to the best medicine for many conditions for millions of patients.
Federal reform would be a huge boost for state-level medicinal programs – just by 1) lifting the threat of federal prosecution, 2) allowing normal banking and tax practices for the medical cannabis industry, 3) allowing interstate shipments so that the market can normalize and the best products can get to patients – and from our point of view – 4) reform would remove one of the few arguments MC opponents have in states like Utah:
That, “yes, there’s promise but we believe in upholding the law of the land and it’s federally prohibited” talking point? It looks to us like the day is soon coming when it won’t be – and then what thin reed will those against cannabis medicine lean on?
The FDA’s “Alternative and Complementary Medicine” rules already govern many plant-based medicinal products – where “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) products don’t have to complete the vastly expensive clinical trials pharmaceutical drugs do – for a very straightforward reason:
Most new (and old for that matter) pharmaceuticals have high potential toxicity. And at least half of the testing is making sure their side effects costs don’t outweigh their potential therapeutic benefits.
That research was complete enough 5,000 years ago for cannabis, and has been replicated for hundreds of generations.
Adverse outcomes still need to be monitored but most of what we need to do with cannabis drugs is find out if they work, how well they work and whether they work better than other drugs with scarier side effects profiles.
It would be great if Congress passed reform before this November. All or nearly all of Utah’s Congressional delegation have signed on to a current reform measure or indicated their willingness to support one or more proposed bills.
You say you’ve already read the article and politics are involved?
Politics involved in Congress? That never happens does it?
By us, Senator Feinstein is more than welcome to change her long-time tune, just as Senator Hatch has. And Sen. Mike Lee is a cannabis reform co-sponsor on one of Sen. Cory Booker’s bills.
So just do the right thing, please your constituents, and we’ll build statues of you in a park in your home town some day, OK…??
#MMJ #UTpol #USpol #Reform #UtahNext #TRUCE
See full article – Feinstein drops opposition to legal pot, giving legal marijuana a new ally
