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Bluelight Crew
full + comments http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/...ite-house-is-interested-in-medical-marijuana/
Gil Kerlikowske, President Barack Obama’s drug czar, claimed recently that the White House is “interested in the potential marijuana may have” in medicine – but in an odd feint, he also insisted that the drug war’s Nixon-era prohibition policies are “based on science and research, not ideology or politics.”
Responding to a petition on the White House’s website that asked for a rule change to let disabled veterans use medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Kerlikowske said that soldiers should not be allowed to use the drug. The White House responded to the petition even though it only had 8,258 signatures. Others have typically required 25,000 signatures or more before officials will reply.
Despite Kerlikowske’s claim that prohibitionist drug policy is “based on science,” a recent scientific study published in The Open Neurology Journal last month directly contradicts him, saying that the placement of marijuana atop the Drug Enforcement Agency’s schedule of controlled substances — a category reserved for drugs that have no medical value — is “not accurate” and “not tenable.” Scientists instead found that while marijuana has some potential for abuse, “its profile more closely resembles drugs in Schedule III (where codeine and dronabinol are listed.)”
“The continuing conflict between scientific evidence and political ideology will hopefully be reconciled in a judicious manner,” they added.
Writing on the White House website, Kerlikowske explained that the Obama administration is “interested in the potential marijuana may have in providing relief to individuals diagnosed with certain serious illnesses. That is why we ardently support ongoing research into determining what components of the marijuana plant can be used as medicine. To date, however, neither the [Food and Drug Administration] nor the Institute of Medicine have found smoked marijuana to meet the modern standard for safe or effective medicine for any condition.”
That statement comes under scrutiny thanks in part to the American Medical Association, the largest physician organization in the U.S., which admitted in 2009 that marijuana has medical value (PDF). They voted overwhelmingly in favor of calling for the reclassification of marijuana to allow for the development of new drugs, issuing a report that claims “smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.”
The AMA also noted that the FDA, which Kerlikowske cited as a major reason for current prohibitionist policies, has not allowed many real clinical trials of smoked marijuana. They cited just “20 small randomized controlled trials of short duration involving ~300 patients” being carried out over the last 35 years with the FDA’s authorization. Other testing is often limited before it even begins, with FDA officials insisting that scientists use pre-approved “oral preparations” of the drug, or a synthetic mimicry of THC.
Gil Kerlikowske, President Barack Obama’s drug czar, claimed recently that the White House is “interested in the potential marijuana may have” in medicine – but in an odd feint, he also insisted that the drug war’s Nixon-era prohibition policies are “based on science and research, not ideology or politics.”
Responding to a petition on the White House’s website that asked for a rule change to let disabled veterans use medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Kerlikowske said that soldiers should not be allowed to use the drug. The White House responded to the petition even though it only had 8,258 signatures. Others have typically required 25,000 signatures or more before officials will reply.
Despite Kerlikowske’s claim that prohibitionist drug policy is “based on science,” a recent scientific study published in The Open Neurology Journal last month directly contradicts him, saying that the placement of marijuana atop the Drug Enforcement Agency’s schedule of controlled substances — a category reserved for drugs that have no medical value — is “not accurate” and “not tenable.” Scientists instead found that while marijuana has some potential for abuse, “its profile more closely resembles drugs in Schedule III (where codeine and dronabinol are listed.)”
“The continuing conflict between scientific evidence and political ideology will hopefully be reconciled in a judicious manner,” they added.
Writing on the White House website, Kerlikowske explained that the Obama administration is “interested in the potential marijuana may have in providing relief to individuals diagnosed with certain serious illnesses. That is why we ardently support ongoing research into determining what components of the marijuana plant can be used as medicine. To date, however, neither the [Food and Drug Administration] nor the Institute of Medicine have found smoked marijuana to meet the modern standard for safe or effective medicine for any condition.”
That statement comes under scrutiny thanks in part to the American Medical Association, the largest physician organization in the U.S., which admitted in 2009 that marijuana has medical value (PDF). They voted overwhelmingly in favor of calling for the reclassification of marijuana to allow for the development of new drugs, issuing a report that claims “smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.”
The AMA also noted that the FDA, which Kerlikowske cited as a major reason for current prohibitionist policies, has not allowed many real clinical trials of smoked marijuana. They cited just “20 small randomized controlled trials of short duration involving ~300 patients” being carried out over the last 35 years with the FDA’s authorization. Other testing is often limited before it even begins, with FDA officials insisting that scientists use pre-approved “oral preparations” of the drug, or a synthetic mimicry of THC.
