Your Weed Posts On Social Media Could Change Federal Law, Seriously
This article was originally published on cannabis.net and appears here with permission.
The FDA is reading Instagram and Facebook posts to figure out the health benefits of marijuana, not kidding.
Marijuana Moment reported a piece on FDA research that you thought was from The Onion.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is drawing attention to its scientific examination of marijuana, which prompted the agency to propose rescheduling. This involved a thorough analysis of research findings, as well as the examination of numerous social media posts to understand how consumers perceive the therapeutic effects of cannabis.
Wait, what?
Unveiling the FDA’s Cannabis Assessment Journey
The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) of the FDA published its Drug Safety Priorities report for the fiscal year 2023 on Thursday. The study featured several projects that demonstrate the scope and flexibility of the Center’s and FDA’s drug safety activities. An important project that was started in 2022 was the study of cannabis, which was ordered by President Joe Biden.
CDER thoroughly examined a wide range of data sources to do an Eight-factor analysis (8FA), a scientific and medical evaluation. Based on the findings of this investigation, the FDA advised the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.
To bolster the 8FA that was submitted to the DEA, the CDER Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology (OSE) reviewed sources of epidemiological and pharmacovigilance data as part of the agency’s extensive assessment of marijuana.
Following the FDA review, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted a letter containing extensive research materials to the DEA, recommending the reclassification to Schedule III. The DEA is currently conducting its review before making a final decision. Despite rumors suggesting an imminent announcement two weeks ago, a Biden administration official dismissed these claims.
The FDA’s efforts to reach a scheduling decision also involved a team of social scientists who spent six months conducting a detailed qualitative analysis of online and social media discussions surrounding marijuana. This study involved manually analyzing hundreds of posts from publicly available platforms to gather user perspectives on marijuana, including its therapeutic efficacy for …