A group that supports the legalization of marijuana for medical use is responding to the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s stance against it.
Right now, cannabis is what’s called a Schedule 1 substance by the FDA, which means it can’t be used medically. Medical society physicians have said they won't endorse legalization until cannabis is classified as a schedule 2 drug, and they can research its effects.
Officials with the Pennsylvania Cannabis Society said they agree marijuana should be reclassified, because it would enable federal money to be used toward research.
Patrick Nightingale, a criminal defense attorney and executive director of the Pennsylvania Medical Cannabis society, said more research is critical, but not research on the medical properties of cannabis.
“There is a vast amount of anecdotal evidence, a vast amount of published articles and published journal articles on this,” he said. “And literally hundreds of studies demonstrating the efficacy of medical cannabis.”
Twenty-four states have some sort of medical cannabis program. Nightingale said the Cannabis group wants Pennsylvania patients to receive the same treatment options those in other states do.
Reclassifying marijuana would also mean researchers could find more potential uses for it.
“Colleges or universities that receive federal funding would be able to, for example, not risk loss of that federal funding if they engaged in medical research relative to the efficacy of cannabis,” he said.
Pennsylvania’s program was passed last year in the senate and is still in consideration in the House.
