The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have exhibited conflicting policies in the US government’s overall approach to the gradual legalization of medical marijuana and the attendant market for marijuana production.
Cannabinoid or CBD oil has been proven as an effective treatment against epileptic seizures and autoimmune disorders like Crohn’s disease and Lupus. Indeed, CBD oil has been long recognized by federal government. In 1999 HHS filed for two patents on the use of cannabinoids for medical purposes and treatment of disease.
Still, DOJ lists marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, a classification purporting the substance’s high potential for abuse. This is largely attributable to one of many cannabinoids found in marijuana—THC, the intoxicating psychoactive cannabinoid appealing to recreational users. The blunt grouping overlooks many of the plant’s other cannabinoids that exhibit medicinal usefulness or potential.
Moreover, even smaller farmers are now beginning to cultivate marijuana high in such beneficial cannabinoids and low in THC for manufacture of CBD oil. In 2014 alone 20 states considered laws to legalize marijuana or CBC oil for medicinal use.
Despite these developments, political leaders and corporate news media increasingly reinforce the misleading dichotomous belief toward medical marijuana, where CBD oil is perceived as good while THC is unwelcome.
“As that happens, two forces will likely come into play,” journalist Ben Swann observes. “One, in order to push the market away from small sellers and harvesters of CBD oil, states and the feds will likely create a regulatory climate that is so difficult to manage, they will, through cronyism force CBD oil into the hands of a few, which in turn limits supply and forces the price to rise considerably. Two, big pharmaceutical companies will begin putting out a ‘safe’, ‘legitimate’ form of CBD oil. That is already starting to happen.”
Source: Ben Swann, “Feds Say Cannabis is Not Medicine While Holding the Patent on Cannabis as Medicine,” BennSwann.com, September 16, 2014, http://benswann.com/truth-in-media-feds-says-cannabis-is-not-medicine-while-holding-the-patent-on-cannabis-as-medicine/.
Student Researcher: Na’Keevia Brown (Florida Atlantic University)
Faculty Evaluator: James F. Tracy (Florida Atlantic University)