The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement today concerning the use of marijuana smoked for medical purposes. The statement claims that "marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and has a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision." The FDA refers to a "past evaluation by several Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies," which "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." Also, the statement only focuses on "smoked marijuana," leaving the question of other consumption methods such as eating or vaporization completely open.
A New York Times article highlights how the "statement directly contradicts a 1999 review by the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific advisory agency." The contradictory review "found marijuana to be moderately well suited for particular conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting." While this study is apparently ignored in the statement, the FDA notes that the administration's "drug approval process requires well-controlled clinical trials that provide the necessary scientific data upon which FDA makes its approval and labeling decisions." However, at the same time, the Times article points out that "scientists who study the medical use of marijuana said in interviews that the federal government had actively discouraged research."
In the meanwhile, the ONDCP Drug Czar issued his own statement that uses the FDA's press release to reinforce the ONDCP's policies.