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Lothar121

Marijuana Research? Don't Hold Your Breath
The Republican | 04/24/06

Massachusetts -- The United States Food and Drug Administration relies on the nation's top scientists and medical experts to determine whether a drug is safe or harmful.

Sometimes, the decision is the result of studies done at public universities, such as the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. On other occasions, it is based on a review by the government's own top scientists. That's mostly how it works.

That's mostly how it works.

On Thursday, the FDA ruled that there are "no sound scientific studies" to support the medical use of marijuana. This time, the FDA ignored the advice of its own top scientists. In 1999, a review by the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most respected scientific advisory agency, concluded that marijuana is "moderately well-suited for particular conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting."

An FDA spokeswoman said a new review that included input from the federal drug enforcement agency found that "smoked marijuana had no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment."

At about the same time that the FDA was under the influence of the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA officials were blocking attempts by a University of Massachusetts professor to study the medical benefits of marijuana. Lyle E. Craker, a plant and soil sciences professor at the Amherst campus, was finally denied a permit after a four-year battle with the DEA to obtain a permit to grow marijuana for scientific research. The DEA said it would lead to greater illicit use of marijuana.

The FDA says there are no sound studies to support the medical use of marijuana, but it is also taking advice from the very agency that is blocking the studies. This raises the question: Who is smoking what in Washington?

The DEA has enlisted the FDA in its fight against the legalization of marijuana, and once again a federal agency that most Americans had trusted to be above politics is in the thick of it.

If the FDA won't listen to the scientists, Congress should take steps to see that it does.

Given the disdain for science currently in Washington, we won't hold our breath.

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FreeUpJahCure

Bush is smoking crack. Cheney is doing heroin. Walsh is on pcp. And the dea...........I gotta feeling they on that fake weed

PotShot

FDA: "There are no studies proving the benefits of marijuana."
Public: "Can we do studies?"
DEA: "Let me take this one, FDA. No. (points at television) Go back to sleep America."
Public: "Uh, ok... look, American Idol!"

...ZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZ...

At least there seems a good deal of "buzz" about the FDA's latest travesty. Personally, I think the FDA is outdated, and needs to be removed. But you know what they say about bureaucracy... 'I don't know, what do they say'?

Well one thing is for sure, they like their jobs!

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Carl Sagan Goodness Richard Dawkins Goodness

gob

Well if the FDA says there is no research to prove marijuana is safe and the DEA says that they will not allow any research.....It's like the old Abbot and Costello's "Who's on First".....Even when the Supreme Court says it is up to the FDA to prove marijuana is safe and effective, what is going on in Washington DC?...Maybe that professor in Massachuttes needs to go all the way to the Supreme Court to get authority to investigate marijuana.

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End Prohibition

Little Nicky

That was a good one .

 

freshair

Marijuana Research; Inhale; hold your breath...exhale with a big smile on your face.

Toking Jedi

I don't know. The only thing I do know is, usually when I ask that question I follow up with a desire for whatever that person is smoking, but this time I'd like to keep away as much as I can. The DEA is a cult-following hypnotist on crack, and the FDA is under hypnosis and isn't making any sense. Unfortunately the interventionist, which is usually the American public and the mainstream media, is on a prolonged and at this point seemingly perpetual vacation. Thus, the Catch-22 of "we can't say it's safe until we get studies, which we won't allow anyone to do" continues to exist with no danger of going away anytime soon. Happy birthday, world.

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