Weed control: feds make bad dealers.

• Author: Doherty, Brian
• Position: Citings - Medical marijuana - Brief article

MARIJUANA research in the United States is dominated by a lone, big-muscled monopolist: the federal government. An April report by Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana advocacy group, explains why that's bad for both science and sick Americans.

Currently only the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) can legally supply researchers with marijuana. NIDA, which guards its gatekeeper status jealously, is oriented toward the idea that pot is harmful, not useful. Even when researchers have received Food and Drug Administration approval for their studies, NIDA frequently refuses to sell them the pot they need to carry out their research, essentially exercising a veto on the FDA's decisions.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The FDA has to follow statutory time limits in considering applications, but NIDA can stretch out the process endlessly. This, the ASA report notes, makes it "financially prohibitive for sponsors to invest the millions of dollars needed to conduct research."...