The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a comprehensive report today acknowledging that “conclusive or substantial evidence” exists for marijuana as a medicine; especially in treating chronic pain. The report sharply criticized longstanding federal regulatory barriers to cannabis research, and denounced “the classification of cannabis as a Schedule I substance” under federal law.
“The National Academy of Science’s conclusions that marijuana possesses established therapeutic utility for certain patients and that it possesses an acceptable safety profile when compared to those of other medications or recreational intoxicants are not surprising”, says Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “This evidence has been available for some time, yet for decades marijuana policy in this country has largely been driven by rhetoric and emotion, not science and evidence.”