Underscoring the federal government’s position, Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar recently pronounced that there was “no such thing as medical marijuana.”
Scientists say that stance prevents them from conducting the high-quality research required for Food and Drug Administration approval, even as some early research indicates marijuana might be a promising alternative to opioids or other medicines.
Patients and physicians, meanwhile, lack guidance when making decisions about medical treatment for an array of serious conditions.
“We have the federal government and the state governments driving a hundred miles an hour in the opposite direction when they should be coming together to obtain more scientific data,” said Orrin Devinsky, MD, who is researching the effects of cannabidiol, an active ingredient of marijuana, on epilepsy. “It’s like saying in 1960, ‘We’re not going to the moon because no one agrees how to get there.’ ”
The problem stems partly from the fact that the federal government’s restrictive marijuana research policies have not been overhauled in more than 40 years, researchers say.