Sunday Dialogue

WHEN MARIJUANA IS USED AS MEDICINE.

Mr. Evans's call for the Food and Drug Administration to determine
the safety and efficacy of cannabis may sound appealing, but it is
politically unfeasible. That is because the cannabis plant is
classified under federal law as a Schedule 1 prohibited substance -
the most restrictive classification possible.

Since the present law forbids any private manufacturers of
cannabis-based products to exist, there remains no entity available
to conduct the sort of research and development necessary to trigger
an F.D.A. review.

That is not to imply that cannabis could not meet the F.D.A.'s
standards on safety and efficacy. Given the substance's long history
as a medicine, low toxicity and inability to cause lethal overdose in
humans, cannabis is arguably safer than most conventional therapies.

Nonetheless, the longstanding politicization of cannabis precludes
the F.D.A. or any other scientific agency from being the final
arbiter of cannabis policy. That responsibility lies solely in the
hands of Congress and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It is
they, not the F.D.A., that must ultimately bring logic and
consistency to America's marijuana policies.

PAUL ARMENTANO

Vallejo, Calif., Dec. 14, 2011

The writer is the deputy director of the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws and co-author of the book "Marijuana Is
Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?"