jct74
12-09-2016, 07:32 PM
Marijuana Legalization Activist Could Lead Trump’s FDA
BY TOM ANGELL
DECEMBER 8TH, 2016
Marijuana law reform advocates finally got some potentially good news out of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team this week following a series of ardent legalization opponents being named to Cabinet-level positions.
Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that Jim O’Neill, a marijuana legalization proponent, is being considered to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Trump administration.
If O’Neill is formally appointed and then confirmed by the U.S. Senate as commissioner of food and drugs, it could bode extremely well for future efforts to reform federal marijuana laws.
The FDA is responsible for conducting the scientific analyses of cannabis’s harms and medical benefits that rescheduling rulings are based on. Before the most recent denial of a rescheduling petition by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in August, FDA concluded that marijuana has a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use in treatment.”
But there is in fact a lot of scientific research showing marijuana to be medically beneficial and relatively safe. Presumably, under O’Neill’s leadership, FDA would more seriously consider and weigh that literature before making future reclassification recommendations.
O’Neill, a close associate of tech financier and Trump transition team member Peter Thiel, has been active in the movement to reform marijuana laws. For example, he was a founding member of the board of directors of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, a California-based legalization advocacy organization.
...
read more:
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/12/marijuana-legalization-activist-could-lead-trumps-fda/
BY TOM ANGELL
DECEMBER 8TH, 2016
Marijuana law reform advocates finally got some potentially good news out of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team this week following a series of ardent legalization opponents being named to Cabinet-level positions.
Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that Jim O’Neill, a marijuana legalization proponent, is being considered to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Trump administration.
If O’Neill is formally appointed and then confirmed by the U.S. Senate as commissioner of food and drugs, it could bode extremely well for future efforts to reform federal marijuana laws.
The FDA is responsible for conducting the scientific analyses of cannabis’s harms and medical benefits that rescheduling rulings are based on. Before the most recent denial of a rescheduling petition by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in August, FDA concluded that marijuana has a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use in treatment.”
But there is in fact a lot of scientific research showing marijuana to be medically beneficial and relatively safe. Presumably, under O’Neill’s leadership, FDA would more seriously consider and weigh that literature before making future reclassification recommendations.
O’Neill, a close associate of tech financier and Trump transition team member Peter Thiel, has been active in the movement to reform marijuana laws. For example, he was a founding member of the board of directors of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, a California-based legalization advocacy organization.
...
read more:
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/12/marijuana-legalization-activist-could-lead-trumps-fda/