Con
Chuck Rosenberg, JD, Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), stated the following in a press briefing, as quoted by Paula Reid and Stephanie Condon in their Nov. 4, 2015 article "DEA Chief Says Smoking Marijuana as Medicine 'Is a Joke,'" available at cbsnews.com:
“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not… We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don’t call it medicine — that is a joke…
There are pieces of marijuana — extracts or constituents or component parts — that have great promise. But if you talk about smoking the leaf of marijuana — which is what people are talking about when they talk about medicinal marijuana — it has never been shown to be safe or effective as a medicine.”
Nov. 4, 2015