A pair of bipartisan lawmakers in the US Congress have sent a letter to the Biden Administration saying they are “deeply troubled” with a lack of progress following Biden’s 2022 executive order meant to streamline marijuana research and remove barriers.
The letter was signed by Congressmembers Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Andy Harris (R-MD), and sent to Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Anne Milgram, Chief Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“President Biden signed our Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act (Public Law No. 117-215) into law on December 2, 2022 – representing a historic breakthrough in addressing the federal government’s misguided restriction of research on the impacts of cannabis”, begins the letter. “At a time when more than half of Americans reside in a place where adult-use of cannabis is legal at the state or local level, and there are four million registered medical marijuana users with many more likely to self-medicate, it is essential that we are able to fully study the impacts of cannabis use.”
The letter then says that “The American public deserves to know the effect modern marijuana has on the human body.”
The letter continues:
We are deeply troubled by recent reporting1 that the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act is not being implemented in line with congressional intent. It is unacceptable that researchers continue to face harmful barriers to cannabis research after Congress expressly removed obstacles to research into this substance. More than 150 pending research applications for studies into cannabis and related products have yet to receive an approval or denial from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and many more researchers are excluded through the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) licensing process, which has not been adequately updated. Additionally, Congress has yet to receive a report on the potential therapeutic effects of cannabis and barriers to research on state- or locally- legalized marijuana despite the law mandating this report be sent a year after enactment.
Continued research barriers signal ineffective implementation of the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act. Therefore, we request further details on the rollout of this law:
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What is the standard timeline for FDA to issue a decision to approve or deny cannabis- related research applications? How does this compare to timelines for research that is not cannabis-related?
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How many research licensing applications are pending before DEA? What is the average timeline for DEA to approve or deny license applications related to cannabis?
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What caused the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to miss the December 2, 2023 deadline to report to Congress on potential impacts of cannabis and barriers to research?
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What is HHS’ target deadline to transmit this report to Congress?
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What specific steps are HHS and the DEA taking to ensure that congressional intent to streamline research registration and expand research on cannabis is reflected in updated processes for research application processing and approvals?
The letter concludes:
While Congress works to address the impacts of the federal-state gap on cannabis policy, the urgency of improved implementation of our Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act must inform the Administration’s engagement with researchers. Congress passed this legislation with robust bipartisan, bicameral support because increasing research into the impacts of cannabis requires timely action. We look forward to your response and to your proactive engagement to reflect congressional intent in the implementation of the law.
