The virulently anti-legalization group, Drug Watch International filed a petition requesting a cannabis crackdown last December.
Forbesreported on July 5 that the group wrote a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that such a crackdown would “send an industry-wide warning to the estimated 33,000 marijuana businesses in the U.S., many of which are making unsupported medical claims for marijuana and THC drug products sold as ‘medical marijuana.’”
Janet Woodcock, the director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research responded on Monday that the move was not “necessary for the protection of public health,” after the prohibitionist group pleaded with FDA to take action to cut down on the sale of “the ability of [over-the-counter] sellers of these drugs to assert and advertise unsupported medical claims for their products,” by which the assumption is dispensaries.
But FDA responded that it appreciated the “safety and public health concerns” of the organization, the agency “already has adequate authority to remove unapproved new OTC drugs containing marijuana or THC from the market.”
“In order for FDA to take enforcement action against illegal marketing of unapproved new OTC drugs containing marijuana or THC, it is not necessary for FDA to establish a negative monograph for marijuana or THC,” was Woodcock’s response.
“While the decision by FDA not to assign so-called ‘negative monograph’ status to marijuana and THC won’t do anything to make marijuana more available, or change its legal status…the rejection suggests that the Trump administration is not looking for excuses to go out of its way to deal public relations blows to the cannabis industry,” wrote Tom Angell of Forbes.
Despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinding of the Obama-era protections for state marijuana laws, Trump has indicated that he supports pending congressional legislation to end federal prohibition of cannabis.
