End barrier to researching marijuana

The following is from a Seattle Times editorial:

The state of marijuana research law defies common sense. Although Washingtonians are free to purchase an astonishing array of cannabis products for recreational or medical use, many of the state’s finest researchers are handcuffed in their ability to examine the good — or harm — of those same products.

Federal law requires all research in federally funded laboratories to use only marijuana from a single facility — in Oxford, Miss. This absurd restriction needs to end.

A bill before the U.S. Senate would improve matters dramatically. The Medical Marijuana Research Act, passed the House with bipartisan approval.

Under the bill, qualified researchers in states that have legalized marijuana would be able to perform lab analysis of the cannabis available in those states.

The University of Washington’s laboratories could research the same products Washingtonians of legal age can already buy and consume.

Privately funded labs can study the street-legal products, but the top-flight research institutions funded by the National Institutes of Health cannot collaborate.

This restriction hinders their ability to learn more about potentially transformative uses for cannabis products — such as the recent discovery that cannabidiol may be a useful treatment for epilepsy.

Congress must end this federal choke point in research.

Science ought to inform this national conversation better. The Senate should pass HR 3797 to remove the barriers to cannabis research as marijuana legalization continues to proliferate across the country.