The 2011 ASHS Annual Conference

While the process to gain permission for research in the United States on Cannabis spp. appears straightforward, the classification of this plant as a Schedule 1 drug by the federal goverment limits any ability to scientifically study the horticulture or medicinal applications of the plant material.  Responses from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for permission to grow Cannabis for medicinal studies can be extensively delayed as the host research institution is visited and questioned as to the respectability of such an application. Security inspections of facilities and warnings about individuals stealing the plant material may appear unreasonable, but the DEA is charged with preventing any misuse of these plants. Still, after satisfying all the requested precautions, permission to do research can sit in limbo with neither a positve nor negative answer to the request to grow Cannabis plants for use in medical efficacy studies on the plant constituents. The potential research is placed on hold and the waiting begins as the agnecy identifies inadequate, on-going medical trials using plant matierial growing in Mississippi. Attorneys can enter case to force the DEA to make a decision, but years pass and any horticultural and medicinal research on Cannabis appears indefinitely deterred. The DEA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the two national agencies charged with control of Cannabis, apparently assume that scientific investigations of medicinal Cannabis will lead to more recreational use as opposed to medicinal use. Thus, the question on whether Cannabis can effectively treat human ailments remains scientifically unanswered in the United States and horticultural studies that could lead to plants aimed at specific health conditions are not done.  A political solution seems necessary.