DEA: Marijuana has no medical value
By Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy News Service
Delivering a big blow to backers of pot legalization, the Obama administration said Thursday that it would keep marijuana classified as one of the nation’s most dangerous drugs, similar to heroin and LSD.
The long-awaited decision by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration keeps intact a 1970 law that lists marijuana as Schedule 1 drug, one defined as having no medical value. That runs counter to decisions made by 26 states that have already approved use of the drug as medicine.
The DEA’s ruling shocked legalization supporters, many of whom had considered Obama an ally after the Justice Department decided in 2013 to allow Washington state and Colorado to sell recreational marijuana.
There is a big danger when a government agency gets so far out of touch with medical research or decides to not do any research because they fear the results may not line up with their agenda that they lose credibility with the people they serve. I simply cannot believe DEA’s position that there is absolutely NO medical value. I have seen too many reports of parents of children that have found relief from their medical conditions, too many researchers both here and in other countries to believe the DEA. You lost me.
DEA is merely protecting its own rice bowl. Not to mention the rice bowls of non-federal agencies that support clandestine activities with minimally documented or even accounted for asset seizures.