Indopedia All Things Marijuana
While medical marijuana has recently become a viable treatment for many conditions, lack of research on the federally illegal plant has made it difficult to gauge what specific health benefits cannabis actually provides to patients.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration could soon play a larger role in examining whether the proposed health benefits of pot are true or not. On Tuesday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stated that the agency could start cracking down on unproven claims of marijuana’s health benefits.
“I see people who are developing products who are making claims that marijuana has antitumor effects in the setting of cancer. It’s a much broader question about where our responsibility is to step into this,” Gottlieb said at a hearing on Tuesday.
In the past, the FDA has been relatively hands off when it comes to medical marijuana, but the commissioner’s statement implies that the agency could start taking a closer look. Back in August, the agency reluctantly admitted that CBD has medicinal benefits in an attempt to assist the United Nations in determining how cannabidiol fits into international drug treaties. Shortly after, the FDA opened the…
