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Today (August 26), the Drug Enforcement Administration announced plans to create new regulations to expand scientific and medical research on marijuana in the US. Scientists hope the proposal will allow additional growers to enter the supply chain and hopefully bump up the quality of the material.
In 2016, the agency said it would accept applications for new growers, but as Nature reported in May, dozens of applications had been submitted but none had been reviewed, approved, or denied. The statement issued today notes that the pending applications would be decided on after the new growing regulations are established.
“There’s cause for some celebration,” Sue Sisley of the Scottsdale Research Institute tells The Scientist. But, she adds, it’s not clear how long it will take for them to first get the new rules enacted before they can make finally decisions on applications. “We all know DEA . ...
