COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) – For the first time, federal researchers have acknowledged some health benefits to using marijuana – and Ohio’s medical marijuana may get cheaper because of it.
In August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formally recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration reschedule marijuana to Schedule III, down from the Schedule I status it’s held for more than half a century. HHS’s recommendation, backed by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, puts the ball in the DEA’s court to initiate the reclassification process.
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In early January, the federal government released hundreds of pages of documents related to HHS’s recommendation, which followed a review of research and state data on medical and nonmedical marijuana use. The documents reveal that federal scientists acknowledged marijuana’s lower potential for abuse and adverse outcomes compared to other controlled substances – and that it has some medical value.