Legal Marijuana Producers Wanted: DEA says it will expand marijuana research, ending years of delay

The federal government is taking steps to improve access to legal marijuana for medical and scientific researchers. The Justice Ministry announced Monday that it intended to respond to delayed requests to increase the number of entities authorized to cultivate marijuana plants.

Two days before the deadline for responding to a lawsuit filed by researchers, the Drug Enforcement Administration filed a notice in the Federal Register recognizing dozens of applications from potential producers. Uttam Dhillon, acting administrator of the DEA, said the agency "is progressing in the registration program of new marijuana growers for federally-mandated research, and will work with others." competent federal agencies to accelerate the next necessary steps ".

The DEA has announced its intention to propose new regulations to producers before deciding on pending applications.

Attorney General William Barr has welcomed this decision, declaring himself "delighted that the DEA is reviewing applications to those seeking to grow marijuana legally to support research."

Currently, all marijuana used for federally registered researchers must be provided by the University of Mississippi, under a contract with the National Institute for the Fight against Abuse. drugs.

The DEA said in 2016 that it would be accept applications to increase the number of entities allowed to develop the drug for research purposes, and 33 entities, including companies and universities, have finally applied. But the agency has not reviewed or even acknowledged these claims for years, despite the fact that a federal law requires an answer within 90 days.

The Phoenix-based Scottsdale Research Institute (SRI), which is researching the medical uses of cannabis, filed a lawsuit in June, asking the Circuit Court of Appeal to order the DEA and attorney general to process his application. The agency had a deadline of Wednesday to respond to the complaint.

Dr. Sue Sisley, a senior IRS researcher, said that "poor quality" marijuana hindered future research. She completed the first randomized trial of "whole plant" marijuana intended to treat post-traumatic stress disorder earlier this year, using marijuana obtained from the University of Mississippi. The cannabis that she used for the second phase of the study, the results of which have not yet been published, came in powder form. Some samples contained mold and others were diluted with stems and leaves. She said the quality of the samples was well below that of marijuana available for sale in states where it is already legal to use it for recreational purposes under state law.

"We have a situation where he [are] Thousands of different cannabis phenotypes sold on the regulated market, the illicit market, and that is the material with which we would like to work, "Sisley said in an interview earlier this month. Scientists want to understand or be able to replicate what patients are using in the real world because patients claim to have these transformation experiences with cannabis. "

Support for more marijuana research is growing. Earlier this year, a group of bipartisan legislators sent letters to the DEA to urge the agency to resolve outstanding requests.

Two weeks ago, the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) filed an amicus brief in support of the petition filed by SRI. A 2018 survey of 2,600 veteran members found that 72% of respondents said cannabis should be researched for medicinal purposes. IAVA CEO Jeremy Butler said many veterans are already using marijuana to treat problems such as chronic pain and PTSD-related symptoms.

"What we need is research to find out if cannabis is useful or not, and if it helps, we want to make sure our veterans have access to it," Butler said. . "It turns out that despite anecdotal evidence, cannabis is not really helpful in treating these symptoms, we want to make sure that veterans know it too, so those who care for themselves already with himself can stop doing it and can look for alternative treatment. "

On Monday, Sisley called the DEA's announcement a "historic victory".

"Now we just have to keep the DEA on the ground and ensure that it respects its own deadlines, as they have been set in public notice today. ", she said in an email. "It will take a long time to get access to newly cultivated cannabis material for research, but at least this door is now open."

SRI lawyers said it was still too early to say how Monday's announcement would affect the outcome of the lawsuit. But they recognized that this could be the first step in advancing marijuana research.

"It looks like they're going in a very positive direction, but they decide to treat these applications, the fact that they recognize their interest in promoting and facilitating research into the potential medical uses of marijuana in Canada." medical purposes, is a fantastic news, "said lawyer Shane Pennington.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the name of the court where the complaint was filed. This is the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal.