A growing number of states have made the move to legalize medical marijuana which had some weed enthusiasts hopeful that the plant would soon become legal under Federal Law. But, that's not going to be the case.
Marijuana will reportedly remain an illegal Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act.
The DEA has stated that a Health and Human Services evaluation revealed marijuana has no ‘‘currently accepted medical use’’ because "the drug’s chemistry is not known and reproducible, there are no adequate safety studies, there are no adequate and well-controlled studies proving efficacy, the drug is not accepted by qualified experts, and the scientific evidence is not widely available."
"At this time," the DEA concluded, "the known risks of marijuana use have not been shown to be outweighed by specific benefits in well-controlled clinical trials that scientifically evaluate safety and efficacy."
Additionally, the DEA noted that weed has a "high potential" for abuse and users were vulnerable to developing a psychological dependence, although they stopped short of dubbing it as a "gateway drug."
The chairman of "Marijuana Majority," a group that advocates for removing marijuana from the drug scheduling restrictions, said this in response to the recent findings;
"President Obama always said he would let science — and not ideology — dictate policy, but in this case his administration is upholding a failed drug war approach instead of looking at real, existing evidence that marijuana has medical value," Angell said. "A clear and growing majority of American voters support legalizing marijuana outright and the very least our representatives should do is let states implement their own policies, unencumbered by an outdated ‘Reefer Madness’ mentality that some in law enforcement still choose to cling to."
Despite the ruling, eight states will be voting on marijuana issues this November including Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada who will consider full legalization of weed. Others like Arkansas and Florida have medical marijuana measures on their ballots, and Montana voters will look to restore the state's medical marijuana law.
[Via]