The Obama Administration took a huge step forward on Monday to support research into the medical properties of marijuana, lifting bureaucratic requirements that had long stifled scientific research.
By eliminating the Public Health Service review requirement, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, also known as the drug czar’s office, will now help facilitate research into the drug.
The requirement had long outgrown today’s marijuana politics. Even opponents of legalization have called for the ban into research to be lifted.
Drug czar spokesman Mario Moreno Zepeda said, “The Obama Administration has actively supported scientific research on whether marijuana or its components can be safe and effective medicine. Eliminating the Public Health Service review should help facilitate additional research to advance our understanding of both the adverse effects and potential therapeutic uses for marijuana or its components.”