Nick Adams/Reuters
PROBLEM: “Marijuana use is associated with an acute increase in caloric intake,” goes the clinical jargon for popular lore. Still despite eating more while high (by some measures, over 600 extra calories per day), marijuana users’ extra intake doesn’t seem to be reflected in increased BMI. Indeed, studies have identified a reduced prevalence of obesity in the pot smoking community.
The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has agreed to hear oral arguments on Oct. 16, 2012 in a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on July 8, 2011 denied an Oct. 9, 2002 petition by the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) to reschedule marijuana, prompting a lawsuit by Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana advocacy organization.
“Medical marijuana patients are finally getting their day in court,” said ASA chief counsel Joe Elford. “This is a rare opportunity for patients to confront politically motivated decision-making with scientific evidence of marijuana’s medical efficacy. What’s at stake in this case is nothing less than our country’s scientific integrity and the imminent needs of millions of patients.”
Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the United States federal government has the authority to regulate the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of drugs through a scheduling, or classification system. Marijuana (along with LSD, heroin, and other substances) is listed under the most restrictive Schedule I, which is reserved for drugs that “have a high potential for abuse, have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”
