Govt. wages war on public health by refusing to legalize medicinal cannabis despite drug's miraculous healing properties

Sunday, August 14, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: medical marijuana, schedule one, DEA decision

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(NaturalNews) For hundreds of years, humankind has known that cannabinoids from marijuana are a boon to overall health, but for some reason the federal government run by a president who admitted to smoking pot in his youth still doesn't understand this.

On Thursday, in an announcement published in the Federal Register and in a letter to petitioners, the Drug Enforcement Administration said it would continue to disallow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, claiming that there is no scientific proof that pot has any therapeutic value.

This, at a time when more Americans than ever are clamoring for its legalization, and when some states have defied federal statutes prohibiting its use – and at a time when more science than ever supports claims that there most certainly is therapeutic value to cannabinoids.

In its announcement, the DEA refused requests to remove pot from "Schedule I," which makes it a drug that has "no currently accepted medical use" in the U.S., and thus precludes healthcare providers from prescribing it.

Regardless of motivation, the DEA's decision puts the federal government at odds with 25 states and Washington, D.C., all of which have passed laws that allow pot to be utilized for medical treatments to varying degrees.

Is this really just a decision bought and paid for by Big Pharma?

In addition, members of Congress have called on the administration to reclassify marijuana, and this week the National Conference of State Legislatures adopted a resolution requesting that marijuana be removed from Schedule I, the Washington Post reported.

"Right now, the science doesn't support it," Chuck Rosenberg, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said. But he cited another government agency hostile to medical marijuana use as his reason: the Food and Drug Administration, which has allegedly conducted a lengthy analysis of the issue, which Rosenberg claimed was "tethered to the science."

That said, there was one policy change to come out of the DEA's decision: The amount of research conducted on marijuana may be set to increase after the agency expands the number of regions permitted to grow pot for the purposes of studying its value in alleviating chronic pain, as a treatment for epilepsy and for other purposes.

"Currently, only the University of Mississippi, which holds an exclusive contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is federally licensed to grow marijuana for research purposes," The Post reported.

But, as Natural News and many other outlets have reported, there has already been study after study demonstrating the medicinal value of cannabis. In fact, just a year ago, we reported on a study that was a collaborative effort between East Anglia University in the UK and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain. Scientists at those institutions uncovered the pathway by which THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, can reduce tumors in patients suffering from cancer.

What are they talking about, the 'science doesn't support' medicinal use?

Researchers found that THC has an affect both on serotonin and cannabinoid receptors in the brain, which is where the "high" comes from. But the scientists also discovered that when those receptors are blocked, THC can still fight off cancerous cells, but without the undesired side effects of being high, and without any memory impairment. In addition, scientists found that the THC could still provide pain relief, and that is important because pot is frequently used for pain control.

But we're expected to believe the DEA and the FDA when they say that there is no "science" supporting the medical benefits of marijuana? It's absurd.

Besides pain relief, marijuana is also useful in treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and nausea/vomiting. It works as an appetite stimulant, and as a treatment for asthma, glaucoma and sleep disorders.

These assertions are all backed up by scientific research. But you wouldn't know that – or, more correctly, you wouldn't admit that – if you worked for a federal drug agency.

Who wins again? Big Pharma, donor to the political elite.

Sources for this story include:

WashingtonPost.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com