FDA IGNORES SCIENCE IN MARIJUANA HOLDING

This is not the first time that politics has trumped science at the
Food and Drug Administration and we expect it won't be the last.

On Thursday the FDA issued a statement saying marijuana "has no
currently accepted or medical use" in the United States and is not an
approved medical treatment.

The "finding," which was based on a past review by federal drug
enforcement, regulatory and research agencies is in direct opposition
to the conclusions of a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine,
part of the the National Academy of Sciences. That review found that
marijuana is "moderately well suited for particular conditions, such
as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting from AIDS wasting."

With its statement the federal agency skipped merrily away from the
center of the political debate on the medicinal use of marijuana.
"Any enforcement based on this finding would need to be by DEA since
this falls outside of FDA's regulatory authority," FDA spokeswoman
Susan Bro told the New York Times.

She didn't say, "And don't bother us, again", but she might just as well have.

Eleven states have authorized the medicinal use of marijuana with a
doctor's approval, but the Supreme Court in 2005 said the federal
government can still arrest and prosecute such people. Republicans in
Congress who oppose medicinal use of marijuana have lobbied the FDA
to come out with an opinion to bolster their position.

Thursday they got their wish.

On the outside were doctors and researchers who contend the
government really doesn't want an honest answer to the question. The
chairman of the Institute of Medicine, said Thursday the government
"loves to ignore our (1999) report."

And other researchers say they have been turned down or had their
funding rejected by the DEA and the National Institutes of Health
when they have proposed studies on marijuana's medical effects.

"The reason there's no good evidence is that they don't want an
honest trial," one researcher said.

Advocates of medical marijuana argue it can be effective in the
treatment of glaucoma and arthritis and for people who suffer from
nausea due to chemotherapy treatments. While doctors can prescribe
the active ingredient in marijuana - THC - they argue that is not as
effective in delivering relief.

That relief obviously won't be coming from the FDA under an
administration that prefers to make medical decisions on the basis of
politics and ideology without seeking additional facts.