Recently Chuck Rosenberg, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), told reporters he believes that calling cannabis medicine is “a joke”. This has immediately drawn backlash from supporters of medical cannabis, including a Change.org petition^[1] put forth by Marijuana Majority which has over 80,000 signatures at the time of this article’s publication.

“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not,” Rosenberg said last week. “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.”

He continues; “There are pieces of marijuana — extracts or constituents or component parts — that have great promise,” he continued. “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 medicine.”

Rosenberg is, of course, completely ignoring decades of peer-reviewed research which has found that cannabis and its cannabinoid compounds can help treat a variety of ailments, from cancer to chronic pain.

“Chuck Rosenberg, acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), just made highly offensive comments calling medical marijuana a “joke.””, begins the petition, which is addressed to President Obama. “While it’s nothing new for drug war bureaucrats to oppose sensible marijuana policies, Rosenberg’s comments go way too far.”

The petition continues; “Medical marijuana is not a “joke” to the millions of seriously ill patients in a growing number of states who use it legally in accordance with doctors’ recommendations… It is not a “joke” to the growing number of prominent medical organizations — American Nurses Association, American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, for example — who know that cannabis has real and proven medical benefits…. And it’s not a “joke” to the clear majority of U.S voters who support passing laws to protect medical marijuana patients from harassment by police and the DEA.”

The petition ends by stating that; “President Obama should fire Chuck Rosenberg and appoint a new DEA administrator who will respect science, medicine, patients and voters.”

You can view and sign the petition – which we strongly encourage you do – by clicking here^[2].

References

1. ^{^} a Change.org petition (www.change.org)
2. ^{^} clicking here (www.change.org)