Mysterious illness afflicts the FDA

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that “no sound scientific studies” supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists.

So reports this mornings news. It’s not as big as the war in Iraq, the people it directly affects are most likely too stoned-out to protest, pot-heads won’t loose a toke because their use was never an approved therapy by the FDA in the first place, but it will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

According to an article in J: Jewish News Weekly, “The Reform movement officially called for its legalization years ago, spurred on by enthusiastic support by local members of the Women of Reform Judaism. In 1996, the East Bay Council of Rabbis unanimously supported a petition in favor of Proposition 215, which legalized the cultivation of medical marijuana.”

From a short review of some literature on the subject, it seems there are many therapeutic uses to the drugs contained in cannabis. People with pain have found it alleviates their symptoms. People with nausea from chemo find it a saving grace. I even read it has been used effectively in treating OCD and lymph problems. This ruling even contradicts the NAS’s Institute of Medicine:

The Food and Drug Administration statement directly contradicts a 1999 review by the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s most prestigious scientific advisory agency. That review found marijuana to be “moderately well suited for particular conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting.”

It appears that a real illness may be affecting the FDA (what some call a politicized entity that is controlled by pharmaceutical money and other interests.) Is this another case of the pot calling the kettle black?

The real solution may lie with finding some religious arguments, as the mushroom eating folks recently won their right to dope up for God.

Meanwhile the ad-hoc group Besamim is looking to line up rabbinical endorsements, before they go public with their “Let our poeple smoke” campaign. And to all a Good Shabbos.