Federal government chooses to stay in the dark ages

No big surprise here, but the DEA has refused to reschedule marijuana at all, and is continuing its stranglehold on industrial hemp. Meanwhile, the administration is making a very minor concession by allowing additional research supply sites for medical marijuana research projects.

The New York Times was pretty much bamboozled by this in their article: Obama Administration Set to Remove Barrier to Marijuana Research

The Obama administration is planning to remove a major roadblock to marijuana research, officials said Wednesday, potentially spurring broad scientific study of a drug that is being used to treat dozens of diseases in states across the nation despite little rigorous evidence of its effectiveness.

The new policy is expected to sharply increase the supply of marijuana available to researchers.

Of course, what that doesn’t change:

Researchers will still have to receive approval from federal agencies to conduct medical studies of marijuana, including from the D.E.A. and the Food and Drug Administration. Those whose projects are funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse will also need its consent.

The problem, of course, is having the DEA (or the federal government) involved at all.

Here is the full press release from the DEA:

DEA ANNOUNCES ACTIONS RELATED TO MARIJUANA AND INDUSTRIAL HEMP

WASHINGTON – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced several marijuana- related actions, including actions regarding scientific research and scheduling of marijuana, as well as principles on the cultivation of industrial hemp under the Agricultural Act of 2014.

DEA Publishes Responses to Two Pending Petitions to Reschedule Marijuana

DEA has denied two petitions to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). In response to the petitions, DEA requested a scientific and medical evaluation and scheduling recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which was conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in consultation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Based on the legal standards in the CSA, marijuana remains a schedule I controlled substance because it does not meet the criteria for currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse.

In his letter to the petitioners, DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg offered a detailed response outlining the factual and legal basis for the denial of the petitions.

The full response to the petitions can be found in the Federal Register here: AND here:

The DEA and the FDA continue to believe that scientifically valid and well-controlled clinical trials conducted under investigational new drug (IND) applications are the most appropriate way to conduct research on the medicinal uses of marijuana. Furthermore, DEA and FDA believe that the drug approval process is the most appropriate way to assess whether a product derived from marijuana or its constituents is safe and effective and has an accepted medical use. This pathway allows the FDA the important ability to determine whether a product meets the FDA criteria for safety and effectiveness for approval.

Increasing the Number of Authorized Marijuana Manufacturers Supplying Researchers

DEA announced a policy change designed to foster research by expanding the number of DEA- registered marijuana manufacturers. This change should provide researchers with a more varied and robust supply of marijuana. At present, there is only one entity authorized to produce marijuana to supply researchers in the United States: the University of Mississippi, operating under a contract with NIDA. Consistent with the CSA and U.S. treaty obligations, DEA’s new policy will allow additional entities to apply to become registered with DEA so that they may grow and distribute marijuana for FDA-authorized research purposes. To read this statement, click here:

This change illustrates DEA’s commitment to working together with the FDA and NIDA to facilitate research concerning marijuana and its components. DEA currently has 350 individuals registered to conduct research on marijuana and its components. Notably, DEA has approved

every application for registration submitted by researchers seeking to use NIDA-supplied marijuana to conduct research that HHS determined to be scientifically meritorious.

Statement of Principles Concerning Industrial Hemp and the Agricultural Act of 2014

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in consultation with DEA and the FDA, also released a statement of principles concerning provisions of the Agricultural Act of 2014 relating to the cultivation of industrial hemp. Industrial hemp is a low-concentration THC variety of the cannabis plant intended to be used for industrial purposes (e.g., fiber and seed). This statement of principles is intended to inform the public, including institutions of higher education and State departments of agriculture, how Federal law applies to activities associated with industrial hemp that is grown and cultivated in accordance with Section 7606 of the Agricultural Act of 2014.

The statement of principles can be viewed here:

This statement of principles outlines the legalized growing and cultivating of industrial hemp for research purposes under certain conditions, such as in States where growth and cultivation are legal under State law. The 2014 Act did not remove industrial hemp from the list of controlled substances and, with certain limited exceptions, the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the CSA continue to apply to industrial hemp-related activities. The statement of principles addresses questions including the extent to which private parties may grow industrial hemp as part of an agricultural pilot program, the circumstances under which the sale of hemp products is permitted, and other related topics.

DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg’s letter to the petitioners can be found here: AA Rosenberg Marijuana petition_ltr_08.11.2016.pdf

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20 Responses to Federal government chooses to stay in the dark ages

  1. Tony Aroma says:

    As I may have predicted once or twice before, and this latest decision confirms, the DEA will NEVER, EVER, EVER reschedule marijuana. It should be obvious to everyone, including members of Congress, that no government agency is going to voluntarily put themselves out of business. Anybody that thinks there’s even a remote possibility that a future petition will be successful is probably way too high.

    Here’s a suggestion: Someone needs to petition the DEA to remove hemp from its schedule 1 classification. I think it would be very entertaining to hear the DEA’s justification for classifying a non-drug, industrial crop as a dangerous and easily-abused narcotic.

  2. NorCalNative says:

    Dear Sir or Madam, this letter is to inform you of my intentions to remain a federal outlaw committed to overturning your disrespect of human rights and the right of man to whole-plant cannabis.

    You can kill my dog breaking into my house, you can kill me, but you will not kill the people’s right to a healing plant, EVER.

    The government’s suppression of science for wealth-production and political purposes is insane and criminal.

    Respectfully, Federal Outlaw #420.

  3. The FDA approves drugs as safe, not plants. Therefore the DEA awaits recognition from the FDA for a safety approval that can never come. The FDA cannot and will not approve a plant that cannot possibly be patented as a safe drug. The FDA does not approve plants, just drugs.

    POTUS or the Congress must act to remove cannabis from the CSA and schedule one or it will NEVER happen. The DEA itself was established by Executive Order of the President.

    This is nothing but a “built-in” catch 22. We need to look to the right source on this and demand that Congress or the President remove marijuana from the CSA and stop looking to other sources for recourse.

    • Tony Aroma says:

      Do we even know what the FDA recommended? The DEA said they received the FDA recommendation a while back, but wouldn’t say what it was. For all we know, the FDA could have said YES, and were overruled by the DEA, as they’ve done to every one else who recommended rescheduling, like their own federal judge.

  4. DdC says:

    Obama Set to Remove Barrier To Marijuana Research
    http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread28877.shtml
    The Obama administration is planning to remove a major roadblock to marijuana research, officials said Wednesday, potentially spurring broad scientific study of a drug that is being used to treat dozens of diseases in states across the nation despite little rigorous evidence of its effectiveness.

    The new policy is expected to sharply increase the supply of marijuana available to researchers.

    Why The DEA Just Said No
    http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread28880.shtml
    For the fourth consecutive time, the Drug Enforcement Administration has denied a petition to lessen federal restrictions on the use of marijuana.

    While recreational marijuana use is legal in four states and D.C., and medical applications of the drug have been approved in many more, under federal law, it remains a Schedule 1 controlled substance, which means it’s considered to have “no currently accepted medical use” and a “high potential for abuse.”

    U.S. Will Affirm Its Prohibition on Med Marijuana
    http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread28878.shtml
    U.S. Affirms Its Prohibition on Medical Marijuana
    http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread28879.shtml

  5. If the last 3 presidents of the US have smoked marijuana, if Malia Obama the presidents daughter can smoke marijuana at lollapalooza, if a majority of the American voting public agrees that marijuana should be legal, then marijuana is safe enough for all the American public, not just the privileged few.

    As a cancer patient my doctor recommends that I use it. My State allows it for medical use, yet I was still convicted of possessing marijuana and fined a thousand dollars. At 65 years old its the only thing on my record.

    Its time for our MILLIONS of voices to be heard by our government.

    This whole thing is truly a humanitarian crisis wrapped in a political cloak of bullshit and stolen human rights.

    • Tony Aroma says:

      If Malia really did smoke pot, then the president should put his money where his mouth is, and turn her over to federal authorities. If he truly believes it should be a crime to use marijuana, then his daughter should stand trial and receive a criminal record upon conviction. What’s good for the country should be good for the 1st family.

      • DdC says:

        It’s legal in D.C. for those who are 21, Returning from wars, but only after legally getting shot at for 3 years. Just not while getting shot at. Or be legally married when she was 12 years old in West Virginia. Kissing rattle snakes is legal too. If Malia enjoyed the experience, she should say so. If it even was pot, its still her business. Gorilla tactics are cheap gossip rag crap that harms people. Michael Phelps lost endorsements so some punk voyeur could sell him out. Something the DEA would do or NIDA would conjure up, Sleazy acts with not a thread of decency. Common snitch’s running with their news to tattle on someone. Society is sliding into the slime. The National Inquirer is now the book of choice swearing in new members of Congress. People suck it up. But btw…

        in D.C. A person under 21 with more than two ounces of marijuana can be arrested.

        If an MPD officer sees a person under 21 with up to two ounces of marijuana, it will be seized. However, the person will not be arrested or issued a ticket.
        http://mpdc.dc.gov/marijuana

        Malia Obama Caught on Video Smoking Pot at Lollapalooza?

        On the other hand, Not all many zealots think before they act…

        An Oregon teen is facing federal drug charges over a single gram of marijuana

        When they get stupid its up to the people to correct them by informing other people how ridiculous they are and how wasting more taxes will not solve the problem.

        Feds Agree To Dismiss Minor Pot Case Against Oregon Teen

  6. Mr_Alex says:

    @DDC and Pete

    There is a root cause to this, the Semblers (Melvin and Betty Sembler), Carlton Turner, Robert DuPont, Calvina Fay, Stuart Gitlow of ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine), Nora Volkow aka Nora Trotsky, the Alcohol, Tobacco, Pharma, Oil, Rehab and Prison lobby and Industry are involved but the person who pulls the strings is Melvin and Betty Sembler as they are heavily involved with the policy decision of national and international drug policy

    THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE DFAF IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY
    1. Robert DuPont is the former head of NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) which funded Straight’s predecessor–The Seed. After leaving federal service Dr. DuPont became a paid consultant for Straight. Today he is on the advisory board for DFAF. In 1995 Straight changed its name to DFAF. In 1996 Betty Sembler attended NIDA’s National Conference on Drug Abuse Prevention Research. In 1997 Betty was back in Washington. This time she was a special witness before the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources at a hearing on “Medical Marijuana, Federal Drug Law and the Constitution�s Supremacy Clause.” A co-witness was Florida Congressman Bill McCollum, former Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime. Betty would be on McCollum’s finance committee when he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2000. He would be on the short list for Drug Czar in 2001.

    On October 21, 1988, Congress enacted the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 as part of the Omnibus Drug Initiative Act of 1988. This statute requires that all institutions receiving grants from any federal agency certify to that agency that they will maintain a drug-free workplace. The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1998 authorizes the U. S. Small Business Administration to hand out grants to “qualified intermediaries” that can provide technical and financial assistance to small companies in setting up Drug-Free Workplaces by providing for drug testing, employee assistant programs (EAPs) and such. $4 million dollars was appropriated. Straight got one of those grants from the SBA. It was for $314,539. Randall S. Pawley’s National Drug and Alcohol Testing, Inc, Straight’s partner in Saint Petersburg which actually does the drug testing part, received $234,000. Calvina Fay, executive director of DFAF used to operate a drug testing company. Just before coming to DFAF she was the director of the Houston Drug-Free Business Initiative which had as a charter sponsor Drug Screens, Inc.–a drug testing company. Drug Free Business Houston got $170,000 of the SBA’s grant money. Former White House Drug Czar and paid Straight consultant Robert DuPont has teamed up with Peter Bensinger, former director of the DEA, to form Bensinger and DuPont–another organization offering companies assistance in setting up EAPs–and in drug testing.

    DFAF INFLUENCE ON US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS. Mel Sembler once made a proposal that we should require all kids age 16 to submit to a drug test in order to get a driver’s license. While this clear violation of the fourth amendment would certainly curtail illegal drug use, it would also provide a boom for Mel Sembler cronies and associates-by-proxy like Bob DuPont, Randall Pawley and H. Wayne Huizenga. As a rite of passage to age 16 the parent of every teenager in America would have had to pay homage of $100 to a drug tester. Mr. Sembler did not get that wish and had to settle for a lesser solution in the mean time–only high school age athletes would be drug tested without cause. When James Acton refused to pee in a jar as a condition to play high school football, he sued Vernonia School District in Oregon to protect his fourth amendment right against illegal search. While the suit was in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, the school called in as their expert witness former Straight consultant and former White House Drug Czar Robert DuPont. Dr. DuPont has defended Straight against many charges of abuse, and while he may sincerely believe that Straight does not abuse kids, he was paid handsomely for each defense. In other words, the more Straight was accused of abusing kids, the more money he made defending Straight. In the case of the Veronia School District, Dr. DuPont may have felt that it is appropriate to drug test high school athletics as a condition of playing sports, and while I am not sure when he became the chairman of the scientific advisory board for Psychemedics–the world’s premier hair testing drug program–it is clear that the more athletes who are tested by Psychemedics, the more money he can potentially earn.

    The Veronica School District case did not get Mel Sembler’s wish to make every kid in the country pay homage to the drug testers, but at least the testers would make money from every kid who wanted to play football. The Pottawatome County, Oklahoma school district ruling would extend the homage for singers in the chorus. On Sept. 14, 1998, the public school district in Tecumseh, Oklahoma adopted a student drug testing policy which required any student who participated in any school activity to be randomly drug tested. The Oregon case had claimed a need to drug test athletes because they were at greater risk of being injured. But the Oklahoma rule required people in the chorus to be tested. On Aug. 18, 1999, Lindsay Earls, a member of Tecumseh�s show choir, the marching band and the academic team, and Daniel James, who sought to participate in the academic team, challenged the drug testing policy by filing suit in federal court against the school district and the school board. This case also made it to the Supreme Court in BOARD OF EDUC. OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. NO. 92 OF POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA Petitioner, v. EARLS Respondent. Graham Boyd, representing the ACLU, stated “The most effective way to keep students from using drugs is to engage them in after-school activities. The last thing you want to do is to put up barriers to these activities.” An Amicus Curiae (or friends of the court) brief was filed with the Supreme Court. This brief was greatly greatly influenced by Straight/DFAF. Signatures included: Drug Free America Foundation, Inc.; Institute on Global Drug Policy (a DFAF front); Eric Voth, MD, Topeka, KS (but Dr. Voth is the director of Institute on Global Drug Policy); Bensinger DuPont & Associates, Bethesda, MD; Straight’s former national research director turned White House Drug Czar Donald Ian Macdonald, M.D.; Julie Murdoch, Esq., Bensinger, DuPont & Associates; Legal Foundation Against Illicit Drugs, St. Petersburg, FL; Peter Bensinger, former Administrator U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Robert L. Dupont, M.D., former Director National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) [and Straight consultant]; Stephanie Haynes, Save Our Society From Drugs TM (S.O.S.)–a Betty Sembler foundation.

    Drug Watch International and Calvina Fay. Calvina Fay is the executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation. She was formerly the director of Drug Free Business Houston (another SBA Drug Free Workplace grant recipient). She is director the International Scientific and Medical Forum on Drug Abuse. She is also the director of Betty Sembler’s Save Our Society from Drugs TM (SOS). Dr. Mark Gold is on the board of directors of SOS. Calvina Fay is current member and past president of Drug Watch International (DWI). Straight’s former national executive director Bill Oliver is an Honorary Advisor for DWI (he also became director of parent training for P.R.I.D.E.) The International Drug Strategy Institute is a division of DWI and includes Straight’s consultant Robert L. DuPont and his business partner Peter Bensinger, former drug czar and Straight’s former national research director Donald Ian Macdonald, Straight’s former national clinical director Miller Newton, Straight-Springfield’s former research director Richard Schwartz, Mark Gold and former drug czar Lee Dogoloff who endorses the cover of one of Gold’s books. Many members of the International Drug Strategy Institute signed the Amicus on behalf of BOARD OF EDUC. OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. NO. 92 OF POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY.

    On June 27, 2002, in a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court decided in favor of the school district.

    In November 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, which permitted Californians to use marijuana for medical purposes. Several groups organized “medical cannabis dispensaries” to distribute crude marijuana. Similar legislation came before voters in Arizona. In January 1998 Betty Sembler met with the cabinet of the governor of Florida and got them to agree to take a stand to fight against any such initiatives happening in Florida. In May 1998 DFAF and SOS joined with Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement to sponsor the Marijuana Education Summit to disprove the efficacy of marijuana use for medical purposes. U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Orlando (Betty Sembler was to be his finance co-chairman) helped kick of this seminar for 400 police, school and youth officials in Orlando.

    California Proposition 215 and a case of the pot calling the kettle black. The federal government enforced federal law against these California MJ dispensaries and the issue reached the Supreme Court. The Legal Foundation Against Illicit Drugs of Saint Petersburg worked with the Drug Free America Foundation and two of its divisions, the Institute on Global Drug Policy and the International Scientific and Medical Forum on Drug Abuse to write an AMICI CURIAE brief in support of the US government’s attempt to remove the proposition. The brief referenced two reports by Straight-Springfield’s former research director Richard Schwartz and one by Dr. Mark Gold who is on the board of a another Betty Sembler drug awareness think tank called Save Our Society from Drugs TM (SOS). According to Our Drug Free Kids Dr. Eric Voth, Chairman of the Institute on Global Drug Policy, a DFAF division, is a co-author of the Amicus brief. After the government won its case Dr. Voth stated, “The ballot initiative process is a scam which seeks to legalize marijuana by popular vote, rather than through scientific research.”

    Dr. Voth, working for a Straight-descendant think tank had said that Proposition 215 was not based “through scientific research.” So what about the Deficiency Correction Order dated March 15, 1990 by Bette McClure of the Executive Office of Human Services, Office of Children, Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Debra Dragton, Administrator Straight-Boston which has this to say, in part:

    “Although Straight’s statement of services states that Straight serves chemically dependent adolescents, a review of records and interviews with staff demonstrate that Straight admits children who are not chemically dependent. For example, one twelve-year-old girl was admitted to the program although the only information in the file regarding use of chemicals was her admission that she had sniffed a magic marker.”
    In September 1986 USA TODAY ran an article headlined: DRUGS: Teen abusers start by age 12 which opened with: “Almost half of the USA’s teen drug abusers got involved before age 12…” The article was based on a study conducted by Straight, Inc.!

    On October 27, 1989 a Straight-Springfield consulting psychiatrist wrote the following observation regarding a client named Nancy (not her real name) on her first year anniversary of treatment.

    “. . . Her current reports of drug use, in my opinion, would not warrant ongoing intensive treatment but we should continue to evaluate her. . .”
    Two weeks later an adult counselor and six old comers took Nancy into a timeout room where some spat on her, screamed obscenities at her, and bent her finger backwards until it touched her wrist–and broke! But they were unable to get her to admit she was a drug addict (because she wasn’t) and so two and a half months later, after 16 months of evaluation, she was finally released. In 2001 Nancy mysteriously fell four floors from her apartment window killing her instantly. A tattoo on her wrist read DISCIPLINE. In 1989, the National Geographic (of all magazines!) reported that since 1984 the percentage of “Straight’s clients admitting to cocaine use has risen from about 25 to more than 75 percent.”

    Straight had reported to USA Today that almost half of teen drug users begin their usage before age 12 and then they treated a 12 year old kid for drug addiction for sniffing a magic marker! Straight broke Nancy’s finger because she would not admit to drug usage, and then they told The National Geographic that Straight kids have admitted to an explosive increase in drug usage. And Dr. Voth is sitting on a Straight-descendant think tank and claiming somebody else uses un-scientific methods!

    Put yourself in the shoes of a Supreme Court justice. He doesn’t know any more about the medical effectiveness of smoking marijuana than he knows when a soul enters into an unborn baby. But he does know the value of a group of expert witnesses. If a group of distinguished doctors representing high sounding names file an Amicus with him, he’ll listen to them over Graham Boyd any day.

    Multijurisdictional Counterdrug Task Force Training program (MCTFT). The MCTFT trains law enforcement and military personnel in state, federal and local governments in America, and police and military officials in other countries throughout the entire world in combating the War on Drugs. It is located at the saint Petersburg Junior College (recently upgraded to a college). It is funded by the DoD and administered through the Florida National Guard. Betty Sembler is on the Advisory Board along with Mr. James McDonough, Florida’s Drug Czar who is a member of DFAF’s advisory board. Pinellas County Sheriff Everett S. Rice is also on the board.
    DARE. Betty Sembler was on the White House Conference for a Drug Free America, and ahs served as a member of the Governor’s Drug Policy Task Force in Florida, and as a board member and vice chairperson of DARE International (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), an organization that provides drug resistance education for elementary and middle school students worldwide. As the wife of Mel Sembler, former United States Ambassador to Australia, Mrs. Sembler began a DARE Foundation in the Australian Capital Territory, regularly conducted seminars for DARE, and started an anti-drug outreach organization through the Advertising Federation of South Australia. DARE has been accused of getting kids to spy on their own parents.
    Dr. Mark Gold and the partnership of modern medical addiction treatment with newage treatment philosophies. In the 1980s Dr. Mark Gold, formerly research director for Fair Oaks Hospital in Summit, New Jersey [a member of the giant hospital chain NME (National Medical Enterprises, Inc.)] invented the 1-800-COCAINE hot-line. If you called the toll-free number chances are you would be referred to an NME hospital or one of its subsidiary PIA s (Psychiatric Institutes of America) provided you had a good health insurance plan, or you would be referred to the nearest public health facility if you did not. If you called inside Florida you were probably transferred to a Florida hotline managed by Dr. Gold’s cousin Peter which, if you had insurance, referred you to PIA’s Fair Oaks Hospital in Delray Beach, Florida where the cocaine treatment cure cost $22,000 for a 28 day stay! Cable TV’s The Justice Files did a segment on PIA in 1991 in which Robert Stuckey, an NME hospital official, was quoted saying that if a person came into the hospital for alcoholism and his insurance coverage for alcoholism was $10,000, but his coverage for depression was $50,000, then his diagnosis would be changed and he would be treated for depression. James Hutchison, a psychologist who used to run the outpatient program at NME’s Baywood Hospital in Texas said that prizes like pizzas, theater and sports tickets were given to employees who were responsible for the most admissions to the hospital. He claims that the hospital’s outreach program of sending guidance counselors, drug-abuse counselors, and speakers to public schools were ploys to identify people who might be admitted to care. It was the hot line’s director Arnold Washton who started the lie that crack cocaine is “instantly addictive” from an interview he gave to Newsweek in the March 17, 1986 issue. Dr. Gold was a consultant to Reagan’s drug czar and to drug czar Bennett. DuPont’s cohort and former Drug Czar Lee Dogoloff apparently joined Dr. Gold at Fair Oaks Hospital. Former White House drug czars Dogoloff, DuPont and Bennett endorse the jacket of Gold’s book Good News About Drugs and Alcohol.
    Straight is a newage drug treatment facility that does not use medical doctors in its therapeutic process. Dr. Mark Gold is a world renowned psychiatrist who does use medical professionals in his treatment process. Dr. Gold is on the board of SOS TM, a Betty Sembler organization.

    http://thestraights.net/reports/dfaf-and-drug-policy.htm

  7. warren says:

    500,000 non-violent drug offenders jailed. THATS THE CRIME.

  8. strayan says:

    OT

    Aussie prisoners are not bothering to even smuggle cannabis in anymore. They’re now growing the stuff themselves: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-11/cannabis-plants-in-gippsland-correctional-facility/7718946

  9. Mouth says:

    How many of us experienced the DEA’s protected black market in Iraq or Afghanistan? The DEA uphold the 1961 U.N. Single Convention and globe trot around the world.

    Here’s another Muslim Terrorist Sympathizer from Arizona bad mouthing every American Veteran:

    http://illegallyhealed.com/the-enemy/

  10. Tony Aroma says:

    It sounds like increasing the number of authorized manufacturers is not necessarily going to make it easier to do medical research. The requirements for getting a license are going to be strict, and it looks like they won’t allow anyone who’s previously grown marijuana in violation of the Controlled Substances Act to be involved. In other words, anyone who might actually have experience or be an expert in the field. I think it will mainly benefit the pharmaceutical industry, giving them a head start. Then in a few years, when some FDA-approved pharmaceuticals are developed, they’ll make the pills schedule 2 or 3, and keep the plant schedule 1. The DEA would be in prohibitionist heaven.

    • Swooper says:

      Marinol is already Schedule III. It makes no sense for cannabis to be on the Controlled Substances Act.

  11. George says:

    Utah will probably be the last state that legalizes medical marijuana. It’s still viewed as being addictive because of its “psychoactive properties.”

    http://www.saltlakecriminaldefense.com/2016/07/9446/

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