A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing highlighted the emerging conflict between drug policies and scientific research. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pressed FDA official Dr. Sushmita Dasgupta about drug scheduling.<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez asked Dr. Sushmita Dasgupta how drugs are classified under the federal scheduling system established by the Controlled Substances Act. Dr. Dasgupta said that drugs in Schedule I are those that have \u201cno potential for medical use\u201d and have a high potential for abuse and addiction. She gave the example of cannabis, LSD, and ecstasy.<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez pressed her further, saying there was \u201czero evidence\u201d that those drugs have medical benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the medical literature is clear that they do have clinical benefits,\u201d Dr. Dasgupta said.<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez said that there was a contradiction between the laws and scientific research.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo right now, our law says that these drugs have zero medical application, but the science says something else,\u201d she said. Dr. Dasgupta agreed.<\/p>\n
The legislators went through how the drug classification works in America, how different substances are classified from Schedule I to Schedule V based on their medical use, potential for abuse, and likelihood to cause addiction. Schedule I is for substances that have no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, while Schedule V is for substances that have some medical use and a low potential for addiction or abuse.<\/p>\n
Dasgupta agreed with Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s explanation of the drug classification system, saying it is \u201cspot on\u201d and that these classifications also have serious legal implications. Once a drug is classified, penalties for possession can be stiff right away.<\/p>\n
The drug classification system was established around 1970, and this is part of a broader effort by Congress to discourage drug use through legal penalties and to control substances used in medical and research settings.<\/p>\n
But Ocasio-Cortez said that more than five decades after the drug classification system was established, it is no longer effective, citing the war on drugs and the obstacles to medical research.<\/p>\n
She mentioned studies that show substances classified as Schedule I could have potential for therapeutic use for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.<\/p>\n
Dasgupta said that the classification makes it more difficult for researchers to continue studying these substances.<\/p>\n
The post AOC Presses FDA Until Official Admits Schedule I Drugs Do Have Medical Value<\/a> appeared first on Where Is The Buzz | Breaking News, Entertainment, Exclusive Interviews & More<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing highlighted the emerging conflict between drug policies and scientific research. Rep.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[114978,49,48,217503,217501,217499,84,217500,377,217502,993,217498],"class_list":{"0":"post-563593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-controlled-substances-act","12":"tag-dasgupta","13":"tag-drug-classification","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-medical-application","16":"tag-medication","17":"tag-scheduling-system","18":"tag-scientific-research","19":"tag-sushmita-dasgupta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}