Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in favor of H.R. 8454, the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act. This bill is a revised version of H.R. 5657, Medical Marijuana Research Act, which was led by Representatives Harris and Blumenauer, and overwhelmingly passed the House in April.

The text of H.R. 8454 that we are considering today is largely similar to H.R. 5657, but it is consensus language that was agreed to through bipartisan negotiations with the Senate. I am pleased we were able to get the language to a good place.

Marijuana is a schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Research on these substances must be conducted in accordance with the Controlled Substances Act and requires the Drug Enforcement Administration approve research protocol.

If a researcher desires to make changes to an approved project, the researcher must submit a request to do so, which is then reviewed and must be approved by both the DEA and the FDA.

In addition to the extensive regulatory hurdles that researchers face, the actual supply of research-grade marijuana is relatively limited. The supply is subject to the single convention on narcotic drugs, which imposes certain obligations related to governmental oversight of its cultivation.

While the DEA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have taken some steps to increase the number of domestic manufacturers of research-grade marijuana, more could be done in this space. The Medical Marijuana Research Expansion Act improves the Federal research landscape by streamlining both the research and manufacturing registration processes.

This is critical to better understand the potential benefits and possible risks associated with marijuana use, as researchers must be able to study actual products that are currently used by consumers for both medical and recreational use. These data are long overdue, as policy decisions have far outpaced the science.

States that have fully legalized marijuana have done so in a relative information vacuum with less understanding of what it is and what it does than virtually any nutritional supplement currently on the market, and with far less information than they have on legal substances that are easily abused, such as alcohol or tobacco.

Until we make it easier to conduct the research, making fully informed policy decisions will remain challenging. Even rescheduling the substance administratively will necessitate robust data on potential medical use.

Recent evaluations conducted separately by the FDA and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have both illustrated the challenges of meeting the required standard of evidence for demonstrating effective medical use. Both studies concluded that lack of research was a significant factor in denying rescheduling petitions in the past.

If Congress does not act, we will continue to have limited ability to study these products in clinical trial settings. This commonsense solution will better our understanding of marijuana through legal, Federally sanctioned and scientifically valid research on this substance.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives Blumenauer and Harris, along with Chairman Pallone, for working together on this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would encourage my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source