GOP lawmakers unveil bill to streamline cannabis research after DEA showed support for White House plan

By Jelena Martinovic

As the long-standing controversy over the medical value of marijuana deepens, two Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced new laws to further streamline research into Category I drugs such as marijuana and psilocybin, Marijuana Moment reports.

The move follows the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA) as they express support for a White House proposal to facilitate the process of List I drug research for scientists.

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The Biden Plan

The previously announced plan by the Biden government was to align research requirements for List I drugs with those of the less restricted List II drugs.

Agencies testified at a hearing of the House’s Energy and Trade Subcommittee earlier this month when the DEA highlighted that “expanding access to List I research is a critical part” of its “mission to protect public safety and health” is.

RELATED: DEA Supports White House Plan to Streamline Research into Psychedelics and Cannabis

However, at the federal level, Schedule I drugs are currently defined by the same agency as “no acceptable medical use and high potential for abuse”.

Stop fentanyl

Now the two Republican lawmakers are taking a step further with a newly introduced law called the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of (HALT) Fentanyl Act, which aims to restrict trafficking in the strong opioid.

Ancillary laws tabled by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) would permanently place fentanyl analogs in the strictest drug category in the federal government, though the legislation also includes provisions to streamline the research process for everyone Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act. In addition to cannabis, the strict category currently includes psychedelics such as LSD, mescaline, and MDMA.

More research, please

The legislation “would recognize the danger of fentanyl-related substances by making them permanent while allowing researchers to study their effects,” Griffith said in a press release.

The latest breakthrough is a move to allow multiple researchers from a particular institution to participate in a Schedule I drug trial under a single DEA registration, rather than having each scientist seek their own approval.

RELATED: Federal Foot-Draging on Cannabis Rescheduling Hinders Critical Research, Harms Veterans, and Millions More

In addition, lawmakers proposed a policy change that would allow only one overall registration for studies at multiple sites and allow researchers to continue their studies after filing a complaint with the Justice Department without waiting for the green light from officials.

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Griffith also emphasized that the research component was important because “one of the things we did in the past was put things on Schedule I and then didn’t do research.”

RELATED: House Green Lights Researchers Accessing Marijuana From Pharmacies

And while Griffith thinks there may be “potential” for the therapeutic use of fentanyl analogs, he insisted that this “must be done carefully”.

“It has to be done the way we set it up so that we have protection there,” he added. “But maybe we will find something good in the course of the research.”

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.