“A federal program that has provided free marijuana to the seriously ill is being phased out by Health and Human Services officials who have concluded it undercuts official Bush administration policy against the use of illegal drugs, according to HHS officials.
While a small number of patients already receiving marijuana will continue to do so, new applicants will be encouraged to try synthetic forms of delta-9-THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, rather than the weed itself, according to a new policy directive signed by James O. Mason, chief of the Public Health Service…
‘If it’s perceived that the Public Health Service is going around giving marijuana to folks, there would be a perception that this stuff can’t be so bad,’ said Mason. ‘It gives a bad signal.’…
While only six people had received marijuana under the program, the FDA has received 28 applications in the past year, and was concerned that it would be swamped with hundreds more in coming months, officials said.”
“The Compassionate IND Program for medical marijuana was suspended [in June 1991] after the number of applications surge in response to the AIDS epidemic.”