Marijuana and drug policy reform groups are sounding the alarm about a bipartisan cannabis research bill that they say could inadvertently undermine state marijuana programs and patient access.
In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Tuesday, the Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce (GACC) and Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) said they support streamlining marijuana research, but the House-passed bill that’s now pending a final vote in the Senate would create more problems than it would solve.
Specifically, the organizations are arguing that the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act “does not expand research into existing cannabis medicines and only permits research for the purpose of a pharmaceutical New Drug Application (NDA) by large pharmaceutical companies.”
Current law already allows cannabis to be researched as a potential pharmaceutical, the letter says, pointing out that there are two marijuana-based Food and Drug Administration- (FDA) approved drugs on the market: Syndros and Epidiolex.
The legislation therefore aims to solve “a problem that simply does not exist.”
“The Act fails to address the real issues,” the letter says. “The barriers to research exist in obtaining existing market products for approval in non-drug pathways (such as dietary supplements, food
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