Glossary

• “The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

2. According to the DEA’s Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young, in his “Opinion and Recommended Ruling, Findings of Fact, Conclusion of Law and Decision of Administrative Law Judge” from 9/6/88:

• “The Act [CSA] does not specify by whom a drug or substance must be ‘accepted [for] medical use in treatment’ in order to meet the Act’s ‘accepted’ requirement for placement in Schedule II. Department of Justice witnesses told Congress during hearings in 1970 preceding passage of the Act that ‘the medical Profession’ would make this determination, that the matter would be ‘determined by the medical community.’ The Deputy Chief Counsel of BNDD [Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs – the precursor to the DEA] whose office had written the bill with this language in it, told the House subcommittee that ‘this basic determination…is not made by any part of the federal government. It is made by the medical community as to whether or not the drug has medical use of doesn’t…The overwhelming preponderance of evidence in this record establishes that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States for nausea and vomiting resulting from chemotherapy treatments in some cancer patients. To conclude otherwise, on this record, would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious.”

3. In a May 16, 1994 Final Order by the DEA Deputy Administer, Stephen Green wrote the following in response to an Order dated 12/9/93 from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit which remanded the matter of a petition from Carl Eric Olsen to the DEA for a ruling:

• “Then Administrator John C. Lawn previously determined that marijuana does not have a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and as a result must remain in Schedule I…Then-Administrator Lawn’s final order was appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which returned the matter to the DEA for an explanation of the factors in determining ‘currently accepted medical use’… In response to the remand, then-Administrator Bonner issued a final order in which he determined that for a substance to have a ‘currently accepted medical use’ the following must exist:
  1. the drug’s chemistry must be known and reproducible;
  2. there must be adequate safety studies;
  3. there must be adequate and well-controlled studies proving efficacy;
  4. the drug must be accepted by qualified experts;
  5. the scientific evidence must be widely available.

  Then-Administrator Bonner concluded that marijuana failed to meet all elements of the five-part test and, therefore, did not meet the statutorily prescribed criteria for a Schedule II substance.”

1. Phytocannabinoids occur in plants, such as marijuana
2. Endocannabinoids occur naturally in the brain
3. Synthetic cannabinoids are created in laboratories and are not known to exist naturally

The most discussed cannabinoids in the medical marijuana debate are cannabinol (CBN), cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta 9-THC).