| Photo: LIFE |
| Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske said this week that there are “over 100” ongoing FDA studies on marijuana. There are two. |
U.S. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske sat down for an interview with The Daily Caller’s Mike Riggs earlier this week — and managed to tell one hell of a whopper while he was at it.
When Riggs asked the Drug Czar, “You’ve said before that you don’t see medical benefits to smoked marijuana and also that the jury is still out on medical marijuana. What sort of scientific consensus does the ONDCP [Office of National Drug Control Policy] require? How many studies have to come out arguing for medical benefits? What do you need to see?”
“You know there are over 100 groups doing marijuana research,” the Czar replied, “and they’re getting their marijuana from the University of Mississippi. There are several things in clinical trials right now. So we’ll just have to wait for those.”
Ah, yes, the “waiting for more research” position which seems so comforting and familiar to federal tools like Kerlikowske. Only problem is, it just ain’t so.
As Paul Armentano of NORML writes at AlterNet, a review of the U.S. National Institutes of Health website shows that there are presently only six FDA-approved trials taking place — anywhere in the world — involving subjects’ use of actual cannabis.
Of these, two are completed, one is testing the plant’s pharmacokinetics (what the body does with it), and one is assessing the alleged dangers of marijuana.
That leaves just two ongoing clinical trials, not “over 100” as our truth-challenged Drug Czar would have us believe.
“You, sir, are a liar (but then again, I supposed we all knew that already),” Armentano wrote in the Hawai’i News Daily.
You can read the full interview with Drug Czar Kerlikowske here.
