The head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday dodged a congressman\u2019s question about whether marijuana is more harmful than tobacco.<\/p>\n
During a hearing on youth vaping that was held by the House Oversight and Reform Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) asked FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock plainly: \u201cWould you agree that marijuana is a more dangerous product than tobacco?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that a direct comparison has been made,\u201d Woodcock replied. \u201cI cannot answer that question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clyde followed up to note that cannabis is a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) while tobacco products are legal for adults. He said \u201cI would assume, based on that fact alone, that marijuana is a much more dangerous product than tobacco.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWell, it depends on the tobacco. I mean, cigarettes are the number one preventable cause of death in the United States,\u201d Woodcock said<\/a>. \u201cSo when you take that figure into account, the fact that marijuana, cannabis, is a Schedule I drug, it\u2019s hard, It\u2019s apples and oranges. There is a great deal of mortality and morbidity from cigarette smoking, and that\u2019s been well-established.\u201d<\/p>\n While smoking any combustable product is a health risk, it\u2019s frustrating to advocates that the commissioner was unwilling to acknowledge that federal policy on marijuana is severely at odds with laws on tobacco in a way that doesn\u2019t serve public health interests.<\/p>\n If cigarette smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the U.S., it stands to reason that the official could at least recognize that marijuana is not \u201cmuch more dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n In any case, Clyde used the non-response to criticize Democratic colleagues who voted to pass the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE)<\/a> Act last Congress.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if my colleagues were truly concerned about the youth smoking epidemic, they would not have voted for the MORE Act,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Of course, the legalization legislation wouldn\u2019t promote youth cannabis consumption. It would remove marijuana from the CSA and encourage equity in the industry. Further, supporters argue that establishing regulatory models for cannabis sales can actually prevent underage use, as storefronts would have policies in place to require IDs, unlike in the illicit market.<\/p>\n A federal report recently analyzed youth surveys of high school students from 2009 to 2019 and concluded that there\u2019s been \u201cno measurable difference\u201d<\/a> in the percentage of those in grades 9-12 who reported consuming cannabis at least once in the past 30 days, despite the rise in states enacting legalization during that period.<\/p>\n Civil rights groups are pushing for a vote on the new version of the MORE Act for this Congress to take place in the House of Representatives this month<\/a>, but time is running low.<\/p>\n Senate leadership also continues to work on their own version of legalization legislation, which Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has repeatedly said will be introduced \u201csoon.\u201d<\/p>\n Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), who is also working the bill alongside Schumer and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), also\u00a0said to expect a filing \u201cvery soon.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Schumer has said that the proposal they\u2019re working on will \u201censure restorative justice, public health and implement responsible taxes and regulations.\u201d He also made a point in March to say that it will specifically seek to restrict the ability of large alcohol and tobacco companies to overtake the industry.<\/p>\n House Committee Approves Marijuana Protections For Banking And D.C.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post FDA Head Refuses To Say Whether Marijuana Is More Dangerous Than Tobacco<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday dodged a congressman\u2019s question about whether marijuana is more harmful than tobacco. During a hearing on youth vaping that was held by the House Oversight and Reform Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) asked FDA ActingContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48466,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48465\/revisions\/48466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: FDA Head Refuses To Say Whether Marijuana Is More Dangerous Than Tobacco<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"