By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The DEA’s plans to allow more research of marijuana has been stymied by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has insisted pot is almost as dangerous as heroin.
The Justice Department has not allowed the DEA to move forward with proposals to grow more marijuana for research, the Washington Post reports.
“They’re sitting on it,” said one law enforcement official familiar with the matter. “They just will not act on these things.”
Consequently, one senior DEA official said, “the Justice Department has effectively shut down this program to increase research registrations.’’
The standoff pits the DEA and Justice Department against each other on the value of researching marijuana to determine if it has medicinal benefits. Although more than two dozen states have approved the use of medicinal marijuana, the federal government still considers pot a schedule 1 drug.
