Article by Richard Cowan, former NORML National Director and author of Reasons Why CBD May Not Work For You.
Well, okay, the DEA didn’t exactly word it that way. They preferred to say, “DEA Widens Path for Medical Marijuana Research”.
A few points here. First, this article is from the Wall Street Journal, which has historically been rather pro-Trump and very anti-marijuana.
In any case, our gracious Lords and Masters at the Drug Enforcement Administration have magnanimously agreed to allow more than one contractor to provide cannabis for medical research … “after years of delay under the Trump administration.”
SEE We Need to Educate Children And Adults About “Drug Education”
As the WSJ reports, “The DEA under President Obama began seeking applications for additional marijuana growers in August 2016, saying it wanted to expand research into the potential medical uses of marijuana as American society took a more tolerant view of its use.” However, Obama became President in 2001 and did not direct the DEA to stop blocking research until his last full year in office.
If the DEA did not like any proposed research, they had a veto over who could get access to cannabis, and for decades they blocked research.
The DEA only allowed one source for marijuana research, a DEA contract farm at the University of Mississippi. I have seen the Mississippi marijuana that the DEA provided to patients under the Compassionate Use Act and for research. It gave new meaning to the old song “Down to Seeds and Stims Again Blues.”
See In Memory: Robert Randall, Father of the Medical Marijuana Movement
The DEA claimed that it was acting under the United Nations Single Convention Treaty.
See European Commission Builds Monument for Racist American Drug Warrior
But now… History made today: UN recognizes medical cannabis
“DEA officials say the rules published this week are now consistent with that treaty, freeing the agency to begin processing applications from prospective growers. Those growers will be subject to a number of regulations aimed at preventing their supply from seeping into the black market.”
Wow! We certainly wouldn’t want any marijuana from Federally approved growers “seeping into the black market!!”
What world do these people live in? It must be a long way from reality. If some goes to the expense of getting a DEA permit and then grows cannabis under government regulations, they would have to be really stupid to dump it on the black market.
Yes, after decades of delays under all of the recent Presidents, the DEA will sort of get out of the way, but they and the politicians who have enabled them are guilty of terrible crimes against humanity. But so are the so-called scientists who have ignored scientific evidence and the suppression of medical marijuana. Crimes against science.
“Today’s unprecedented action serves as a testament to the federal government’s support for scientific and medical research with marijuana and its chemical constituents, which could ultimately result in the development of additional marijuana-derived medicines approved by the FDA,” the DEA said in a statement, referring to the Food and Drug Administration.
And if you believe that…
