FDA says marijuana has a legitimate medicinal purpose

I can only speak anecdotally, but recreational cannabis product has all but cured my insomnia sleep issues. While off prescribed medication, I will stay up all night exhaustedly writing code and watching TV. While on prescribed medication, I will stay up all night exhaustedly watching TV without the bare minimum amount of focus to write code. If I take some edibles around 8PM, I&#x27;m out like a light by 11PM.<p>The final straw for me was being awake for 2 days straight a few years ago. I would lay down and close my eyes and just be exhausted while doing nothing.

&quot;marijuana is currently in the same category as some of the hardest drugs, like heroin and LSD&quot;<p>Drugs should not be illegal period, but &quot;some of the hardest drugs, like heroin and LSD&quot; is a very funny (dark) sentence to me.

I&#x27;ve been hunting for the related source for this (and similar) article today. I cannot find any FDA press releases[1] which point to any documents like this being released. From a YouTube video from the same source as this article, there is a brief image of a document, which is the August 29, 2023 letter from HHS to the FDA [3-redacted].<p>Has anyone found a more definitive source that the FDA has recently released a &quot;report&quot; with this content? I wonder if this is just slow news day recap of old information.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fda.gov&#x2F;news-events&#x2F;fda-newsroom&#x2F;press-announcements" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fda.gov&#x2F;news-events&#x2F;fda-newsroom&#x2F;press-announcem...</a> [2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=0VULoaz3E7o&amp;t=20s" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=0VULoaz3E7o&amp;t=20s</a> [3-redacted] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hhs.gov&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;signed-ash-to-dea-letter-marijuana.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hhs.gov&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;signed-ash-to-dea-le...</a>

I turned 65 this year. I&#x27;ve been using weed for over 50 years now. I have never had any serious health issues at all. My hips are started to tell me I&#x27;m getting old but otherwise I&#x27;m still doing pretty good.<p>It&#x27;s not for everyone but it has certainly been good for me.

I did a deep literature dive about it in the spring of 1986 and was amazed about how little negatives there was at that time. The biggest positive was that THC protected neurons from hypoxia, almost the opposite of damage. The other interesting finding was the Jamaican study, near zero negative effect for the heaviest use cohort. 5 or more fat joints per day for 35 or more years had basically zero negative vs the other groups. No real positives but zero negatives beyond a slightly larger percent of phlegmy lungs, like a few percent more.

Curious if any users here have had experience with Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome [1]. I enjoy partaking but after several years of consistent use I believe I started suffering from constant nausea and had to stop.<p>1: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cedars-sinai.org&#x2F;health-library&#x2F;diseases-and-conditions&#x2F;c&#x2F;cannabinoid-hyperemesis-syndrome.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cedars-sinai.org&#x2F;health-library&#x2F;diseases-and-con...</a>

This hopefully is the precursor the DEA needs (plus a political push) to reschedule cannabis.

Can anybody explain me (or recommend any resources that explains) what benefit does it have to make it illegal to have these substances?<p>From my point of view, it does not fix the problem of having people consume them, and it does harm the time it takes for us to have serious scientific tests that assess if they have any good benefits at all.

If the FDA truly believed this (like, followed science, did studies, etc), they would have pushed for rescheduling <i>decades</i> ago. Instead, they&#x27;ve finally bowed to political pressure that has built up in the country over the last 10 years.<p>Thats all it is to them, politics. This FDA does not believe in true science.<p>It will also likely be politics that moves them to start banning food products that contain high levels of plastics, pesticides, etc. It won&#x27;t be the science (thats already known), it will be politics again, but not until it&#x27;s really bothered enough people again.

I don&#x27;t really care if it has medicinal purpose or not, but it shouldn&#x27;t be a crime to grow or possess it. Neither alcohol nor tobacco is held to this standard. Nor hyper-palatable foods.

Well, of course. It&#x27;s an election year and the incumbent is polling poorly with young people.

The future smells bad

&gt; As a Schedule 1 drug, marijuana is in the same category as some of the hardest drugs like heroin and LSD, which means it’s classified as being more dangerous than fentanyl and methamphetamine.<p>LSD is another drug where it is absurd it is on Schedule 1, and reporters likening it specifically to heroin as one of the hardest drugs is equally absurd. Psilocybin&#x2F;Psilocin also fall in this category.<p>Obviously not to the extent that marijuana does, but we are seeing real medical research showing promising results around mushrooms, lsd, and similar substances in treating depression, ptsd, alcohol dependency, etc. as well as just general mental wellbeing. Plainly, these do not match the criteria of &#x27;having no recognized medical use.&#x27;<p>Fix our drug laws.

Legalize.

We need to envelope the planet in weed smoke and put shrooms into the water supply instead of whatever they’re putting in right now!!.!!!! Whose with me

Good, but not good enough. Marijuana should be treated like kratom, kava, and salvia.