According to the NY Times, which cited three anonymous government officials. the DEA has decided that they will not be rescheduling cannabis. This is very disappointing not only to the marijuana law reform movement, but the broader drug law reform movement as a whole. The DEA contends that it will publish new rules in the Federal Register tomorrow morning that reduce barriers to medical research.
Apparently the DEA intends to remove the monopoly status of cultivating cannabis from the University of Mississippi, which currently grows it for medical research. While not the news we were hoping for, it will remove a major hurdle allowing scientific studies to better understand the benefits and risks of cannabis. Ole Miss has had a reputation for providing dirt weed that doesn’t meet the specifications of researchers, who have also been stymied by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), which oversees all research projects.
Reefer Madness continues…..