No accepted medical use

Courtesy of Barry Ritholtz (again) comes this video on medical marijuana. If you have some time, it's worth a watch. As Barry writes,

The U.S. government classifies marijuana—along with heroin and LSD—as a Schedule I drug, the most tightly restricted category of drugs in the United States. According to the federal government, Schedule I drugs are unsafe and have “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

Really?

As medical marijuana proponents have pointed out since the Controlled Substances Act was passed by Congress in 1970, cannabis has been used medicinally for thousands of years, and there has never been a reported case of a marijuana overdose. Moreover, in recent years clinical researchers around the world have demonstrated the medicinal value of cannabis.

As pointed out in the video, most of the medical benefits of marijuana are what would be deemed "pain management" benefits. Marijuana doesn't cure or attempt to cure any ailments, but neither do many prescription drugs being peddled today. It would be hard to argue that marijuana has any less "medical use" than any legal opiate-based pain medication, such as codeine, morphine, or oxycodone. The pain-alleviating effects are extremely similar, without the dependency/withdrawal issues that are commonly associated with the opiate-based drugs.

The primary reasons behind marijuana's declaration as a Schedule I drug are unclear, though many claim that racist and cultural motivations were a significant factor. Either way, its continued treatment as a dangerous drug has cost federal and local governments untold millions in law enforcement and legal costs, with little effect on actual use.

At a time when balancing budgets is a primary concern, I would not be surprised to see marijuana legalization movements gain traction. By legalizing and taxing marijuana sales, we could actually turn a large government expenditure into a source of revenue. Ultimately, the need to balance government budgets may trump all other arguments in favor of criminalization, whatever they originally may have been. I'll certainly be keeping my eye on California.

[The Big Picture]