The Food and Drug Administration released an advisory last week claiming that marijuana has no medicinal value, ignoring a substantial body of scientific evidence to the contrary.
 
This announcement contradicts a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine, the scientific arm of the National Academy of Science, which said that marijuana has medical potential and should be made available to patients. This report was issued by a panel of independent scientists and doctors who reviewed the body of scientific knowledge on the subject. The FDA statement, on the other hand, did not refer to any new science to support its claim.
 
The announcement is the latest example of an ongoing, politically-driven effort to block marijuana from medical use. In its advisory, FDA claimed that "no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States." However, private research efforts around marijuana have been chilled by a Drug Enforcement Administration policy that keeps production of marijuana for research under government monopoly. Adequate competition in the manufacture of Schedule I drugs - such as marijuana - to be used for research purposes is actually required by law, and clinical trials would be necessary for an evaluation for possible FDA approval. The current DEA restrictions on research marijuana do not exist for any other drug.
 
DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann said, "It is shameful to see the FDA talking out of both sides of its mouth on this issue by declaring there is no sound research on the medical benefits of medical marijuana but at the same time, denying researchers the opportunity to study the efficacy of cannabis."
 
Shortly before last week's FDA announcement, the Department of Health and Human Services postponed for the third time its response to an appeal from Americans for Safe Access, which is seeking corrections to erroneous claims the department has made about medical marijuana. These claims include the assertion that marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United states." HHS has said it needs more time to review the issue - a position contradicted in the unqualified condemnation by FDA, which is part of HHS. The FDA advisory does not address this discrepancy at all
 
This inconsistency and the blocking of research on the part of the federal government make clear that this anti-medical marijuana stance is driven by ideology, not science. "It is a real problem when our system for evaluating drug safety is dictated by politics rather than facts," said Bill Piper, DPA's director of national affairs. "Public health is too important to be at the mercy of politicians who overlook or discourage research just because it might yield results they don't agree with."

Health organizations supporting legal access to medical marijuana include: American Academy of HIV Medicine, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Nurses Association, American Preventive Medical Association, American Public Health Association, California Academy of Family Physicians, California Medical Association, Florida Medical Association, Lymphoma Foundation of America, New England Journal of Medicine, New York State Association of County Health Officials, New York State Hospice and Palliative Care Association, New York State Medical Society, and the Whitman-Walker Clinic.