HuffPo: White House Takes Huge Step Forward In Fight Over Marijuana Research

[Ruby the Liberal]

Disagree that this is a "huge" step, but it is a baby step in the right direction. One stop on the local 'express' of mandated research approval stops...

De-scheduling (even Re-scheduling) would be *huge*. But here is the policy announcement - we take what we can get!

WASHINGTON -- The White House took a major step forward on Monday to support research into the medical properties of marijuana, lifting a much-maligned bureaucratic requirement that had long stifled scientific research. By eliminating the Public Health Service review requirement, the Department of Health and Human Services will help facilitate research into the drug.

{snip}

Currently, marijuana research that is not funded by the government must go through a Public Health Service review -- a process established in 1999 by the federal government after a 1998 Institute of Medicine report called for more scientific research into the medical value of marijuana.
It's a process that no other substance classified by the government as Schedule I is subject to and one that researchers and lawmakers alike have criticized.

More (with links): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/public-health-service-review_n_7635760.html