Marijuana Moment
A GOP congressman is claiming that the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) opposes marijuana rescheduling—despite the fact that her agency officially concurred with a recommendation to implement the reform as well as the director’s repeated public comments criticizing research barriers imposed by cannabis’s current Schedule I status.
NIDA Director Nora Volkow
While Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) said during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday that NIDA Director Nora Volkow is “adamantly opposed” to rescheduling cannabis, the agency declined to substantiate that position in a statement to Marijuana Moment—instead pointing to the director’s past remarks and other materials describing how researchers face onerous obstacles in conducting studies into cannabis due to its Schedule I status under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
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Nonetheless, Harris told the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during Thursday’s hearing that Volkow herself is opposed to the reclassification, as well as any move to make “marijuana more broadly available.” The congressman asked FDA Commissioner Robert Califf whether he’d discussed the issue with the NIDA director and then pressed him on whether he was “aware” of her position.
“I’m aware of her opinions, yes,” Califf said, notably declining to push back on the rescheduling claim.
