WSU marijuana research facility prudent step

June 7 – For decades, the federal government has trapped marijuana advocates in a bureaucratic catch-22. The message: “You cannot research the drug because we will not allow you to grow it and you cannot prove its benefits because there is little research.”

That makes the establishment of the Center for Cannabis Policy, Research and Outreach at Washington State University particularly noteworthy. The center was approved by university officials in May and reflects changing attitudes towards cannabis across the country.

In 2012, Washington was one of the first two states, along with Colorado, to approve recreational marijuana use by adults. Initiative 502 was approved with 56 percent of the vote (in Clark County, 49.7 percent of the vote was approved). Now 17 states have approved recreational use, and 36 states have regulations that allow medical marijuana.

In our state, marijuana sales top $ 2 billion a year. Tax revenue is projected to be approximately $ 500 million for each of the next two years, and 58 percent of that will go to health initiatives. In 2020, Clark County lifted a moratorium on marijuana businesses in unincorporated territories that had been in place since legalization.

Tax revenue is of course not a sufficient reason for approval. Many sane people will argue that marijuana is a social disease with few benefits; The problem is that for a long time there has been little evidence to support arguments on either side of the problem.

Since 1968, a small laboratory at the University of Mississippi has been the only facility licensed by the Drug Enforcement Administration to grow research-grade marijuana. This is used to investigate the drug’s value in treating conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder or chronic pain.

Meanwhile, cannabis remains on the federal list of drugs on List I and is placed in a category that includes heroin and LSD. A list in Appendix I creates barriers that restrict research into a substance. Cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl – to name three examples – are List II drugs, which means that drugs that are generally considered more harmful than marijuana are less restricted.

The story goes on

Over the years, various laws in Congress have attempted to reclassify marijuana with no success. But DEA officials agreed on a change last year that would allow facilities to grow marijuana for research, and last month they announced that several manufacturers had been approved.

Overall, the United States is finally taking a realistic approach to marijuana. Several states – including Washington – have pardoned people with marijuana convictions on their files. And the US House of Representatives passed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Exungement Act last year to decriminalize and remove cannabis from List I (Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, voted against the law); the measure was not taken up by the Senate and reintroduced this year.

The aim is not to encourage or even authorize the use of marijuana, and we reiterate the need for tough measures to keep it out of minors. What is needed, however, is a more practical approach to a widely used drug that requires extensive research into the substance and its physical and social effects.

By expanding its marijuana research, Washington State University can help answer questions about the effects of marijuana on brain development, street recognition, and in the workplace. These responses can lead to improved public order rather than leaving advocates in a catch-22.