Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, offers this insightful opinion piece in The Huffington Post calling for President Obama to ease restrictions on marijuana research.
Bandow writes: “The War on Drugs continues, four decades after President Richard Nixon commenced hostilities. President Barack Obama — the third president in a row to have used illicit substances in his youth — is no drug warrior. However, he seems unlikely to challenge the disastrous new prohibition.
“The president has, however, ended the federal campaign against medical marijuana, ordering administration officials to respect state laws legalizing the drug for medicinal purposes. This policy will grow increasingly important as more states allow use of med-pot (for instance, in November Maine voters legalized medical marijuana dispensaries). Congress should approve legislation introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), codifying administration policy into law.
“Moreover, the president should order the Drug Enforcement Agency to make more pot available for research, moving the issue forward at another level.”
Bandow notes, in particular, that “scientific study is hampered by the Drug Enforcement Agency’s control of marijuana production through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (part of the National Institutes of Health). NIDA has denied scientists access to marijuana to study the drug’s impact on migraines and AIDS wasting syndrome, for instance.” He calls for an end to such practices, and for Obama to seek ways for “legitimate scientific research” to take place without the political stonewalling that took place under the Bush Administration.
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