DEA Wants More Cannabis Grown and Fewer Opioids Produced In 2019
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]I[/dropcap]n an effort to slow down the opioid crisis that is sweeping the nation, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wants to increase the amount of cannabis that can be legally grown for research while also cutting down the amount of opioids produced.
The DEA has shown interest in growing 5,400 pounds of cannabis for research purposes in 2019, more than five times the amount of cannabis that was grown for research this year. In addition, the DEA is aiming to cut down on the production of oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine and fentanyl. In addition to the increase in cannabis cultivation, the DEA is proposing to allow the production of 384,460 grams of THC, the same amount that was allotted for this year.
“We’ve lost too many lives to the opioid epidemic and families and communities suffer tragic consequences every day,” said DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon in a press release. “This significant drop in prescriptions by doctors and DEA’s production quota adjustment will continue to reduce the amount of drugs available for illicit diversion and abuse while ensuring that patients will continue to have access to proper medicine.”
Since 1968, the University of Mississippi has run the only farm for growing cannabis for research purposes. Scientists have often complained that it is hard to get approved to receive cannabis from the facility and that the product is often of low quality. In response to the concerns, the DEA moved to end the monopoly and create a process for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to license additional cultivators. While more than two-dozen facilities have filed proposals to become licensed, Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department has blocked the DEA from acting on the applications.
The huge increase in cannabis production quotas in 2019 could be a sign that the DEA expects eventual approval of some of the additional grower applications. It also indicates that it might be time to re-up the federal cannabis stash as interest in cannabis’ medical benefits increase among the public and scientists that wish to study it.
