US government set to open the door for more medical marijuana research

The US government will announce a new policy today allowing more research into the medical uses of marijuana, report Reuters and The New York Times. Licenses will be given to a number of universities to cultivate the plant for research purposes. Previously, only one institution — the University of Mississippi — has been allowed to do so, creating a bottleneck for research, with scientists having to wait years to obtain federally-approved samples.

"This is a good day for science," Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, told Reuters. "This shows that the federal government is flexible on legitimate research but is nowhere near wanting to legalize marijuana."

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