On December 21, the Federal Register included a new item entitled 21 CFR Part 1308, which lists all ‘marihuana’ extracts as Schedule I drugs, including cannabidiol (CBD), which has legitimate, able-to-be-proven medicinal benefits. Oh, and not to mention, it’s NON-psychoactive, so it does NOT get users high.
Just to clarify, there are three criteria listed on the DEA’s website that qualify a drug for the Schedule 1 list: the drug must have a high potential for abuse, the drug has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of safety associated with use of the drug even under medical supervision.
Now, have a look at this. In an article entitled “5 Must-Know Facts About Canabidiol (CBD)” found on Leafscience.com, there are seven medical properties of CBD listed: antiemetic (reduced nausea and vomiting), anticonvulsant, antipsychotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-tumoral/anti-cancer, anxiolytic/anti-depressant.
Furthermore, the U.S. Cancer Institute, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health, states on their website, “another active cannabinoid is CBD, which may relieve pain, lower inflammation, and decrease anxiety without causing the ‘high.’” The site goes on to say, “cannabinoids may have benefits in treating the symptoms of cancer or the side effects of cancer therapies.”
Seeing the discrepancy yet?
Like you, I too am wondering why the DEA would blatantly ignore the criteria they created, in order to place CBD, a ‘drug’ that has many apparent medical benefits under a category of drugs that are supposed to have “no currently accepted medical use in treatment.” So CBD is now alongside drugs peyote, meth, and heroine.
Supposedly, the new regulation is supposed to help the DEA track medical benefits of each individual extraction from the genus Cannabis. However, many of the marijuana industry leaders fear the classification is the first shot of many to come from the new presidential administration, in order to diminish and reverse the progress made in legalizing the industry.
And just like that, it all comes back to Trump.
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