Walter In Denver

The Lie

If you pay attention to these sort of things you couldn't miss Thursday's FDA pronouncement on medical use of marijuana:

A past evaluation by several Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA), concluded that no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use.

And if you follow the issue at all you know that's simply garbage. In 1999 the National Academy of Sciences (an organization devoted to actual science, as opposed to the FDA) published an overview of research on medical uses of marijuana. Although the research is incomplete, (because of political barriers) there is quite a bit of evidence that pot is a useful medicine.

The FDA also ignores Sativex, a prescription drug available in Canada and Europe, which is essentially just liquid marijuana. It's been proven to be helpful for a variety of ailments.

The FDA sounds here much like Bagdad Bob in his last days as Iraq's spokesman, except they don't have that charming take on the English language.

Posted by Walter at April 22, 2006 06:41 PM