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The Schedule I status of cannabis and component compounds like cannabidiol (CBD) is being undermined yet again:
The US Drug Enforcement Administration has long held that the non-psychoactive component of marijuana, cannabidiol, is a schedule I drug. That is, a drug that has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. But according to a preliminary report embraced by the World Health Organization this week, the DEA's long held stance is tripping.
In a preliminary report last month, the WHO's Expert Committee on Drug Dependence concluded—and WHO agreed—that clinical and pre-clinical studies of CBD show no evidence of a potential for users to abuse the drug or suffer any harms. Moreover, the experts found plenty of inklings that CBD has medical benefits, particularly for treating epilepsy. In its conclusion, the ECDD declared that the current data "does not justify scheduling of cannabidiol."
The ECDD's report is just a first glance, however. The committee, which is generally tasked with assessing which drugs should be internationally controlled (scheduled) and how, will take a more extensive look in May of 2018. Then, it will review cannabis overall, as well as other cannabis compounds.
CBD has shown promise in a trial as a treatment for psychosis:
An ingredient in cannabis called cannabidiol or CBD has shown promise in a clinical trial as a potential new treatment for psychosis, scientists said on Friday. Scientists conducted a small trial of people with psychosis and found patients treated with CBD had lower levels of psychotic symptoms than those who received a placebo. Psychosis is characterized by paranoia and hallucinations.
[...] In the trial, 88 patients with psychosis received either CBD or placebo for six weeks, alongside their existing antipsychotic medication. Beforehand and afterwards, the scientists assessed symptoms, functioning and cognitive performance, and the patients' psychiatrists rated their overall condition overall. "The study indicated that CBD may be effective in psychosis: patients treated with CBD showed a significant reduction in symptoms, and their treating psychiatrists rated them as having improved overall," said Philip McGuire, who co-led the trial.
Also at The Conversation.
Cannabidiol (CBD) as an Adjunctive Therapy in Schizophrenia: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial (DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17030325) (DX)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 17 2017, @01:35PM (2 children)
The sad part - not that it's news here - is that the great majority of drug-related crime, loss of life, and property damage occurs specifically because the drugs are illegal.
There is never a good reason to use heroin or cocaine or most forms of amphetamines, and most of the time for most people it's a bad idea to use pot too.
But there's never a good reason to use alcohol or nicotine or get more than a relatively small fraction of your total calories from processed sugar, too. We don't ban those things. And look what happened: all those beer companies having gun battles in the street, and selling booze to kids in school yards, and massive cigarette cartels in Central America and South America that corrupt entire governments so they can smuggle Camel cigarettes across national borders. People dying because they bought sugar that was accidentally cut with poisons. And zero tax revenue for local and national governments based on those products. ....oh wait, no, none of it.
Legalize all of the currently illegal drugs for people eighteen or older on a prescription basis, and make it clear to the doctors that it's better for a patient to get something that will kill them slowly from a doc than something that will kill them quickly on the street. Outlaw advertising. Tax all of them, and use the revenue to fund free inpatient rehab clinics for anyone and even more anti-drug campaigns. While you're at it, legalize, regulate, and tax prostitution and gambling too for the same reasons. How are organized criminals and gangs going to make money? Where does the business model of the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels go? The last big leg of criminal operations is weapon trading, but they only do that to protect their drugs, prostitution, and gambling.
Whether they realize it or not, the DEA and organized criminal groups that sell drugs are currently partners. Their reasons for existence and source of funding is the illegality of drugs. In the 1930s FDR and the Democrats invented work for millions of people with the Public Works Administration, Works Progress Administration, and Civilian Conservation Corps. That kind of social program is no longer palatable to American voters, so we have the War on Drugs as modern alternative to give millions of Americans a way to pass the time: the DEA, the criminals they pursue, and a massive prison system.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 18 2017, @05:47PM (1 child)
Here's a plenty good reason to do any of those things: It feels good and I want to. Fuck off with that holier than thou bs
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @01:05AM
Agreed.
But to get them legalized, you're going to need a different argument than that to get past the Puritans. "It's none of your damn business" doesn't carry any weight with them. "It costs less, reduces other forms of crime, and ruins fewer lives" might.