This post is presented by our media partner Cannabis News Wire
View the original article here.
A medical marijuana company that focuses on developing cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals has filed a suit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) over “exponential delays” in the agency’s licensing process for cultivating medical research cannabis. MMJ BioPharma Cultivation sued the DEA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, claiming that the DEA’s licensing process, which can take several years, has prevented innovation which could help patients and which hamper the company’s business.
The Rhode Island-based medical cannabis company asked the federal court to compel the DEA into action and hopefully streamline its licensing process. MMJ said in its suit that although it began the licensing process in late 2017, several years of licensing delays have kept it from carrying out the research it was meant to do. The company is currently working to develop gel capsules with marijuana extracts to treat Huntington’s disease and multiple sclerosis (MS).
The DEA allowed MMJ to import cannabis for research from Canada, but the medical cannabis company ran into a wall when it applied for a license to cultivate cannabis for research purposes in-house rather than obtain it from Canada. According to MMJ, granting the company in-house cultivation privileges is “essential” to its ability to run clinical trials on the efficacy of cannabis against various health conditions.
MMJ added that without the ability to grow cannabis in-house to its own specifications, the company cannot develop a proper compound.
Its petition notes that it began the preregistration process for license application in June 2021 and went through several steps before a DEA diversion investigator informed MMJ officials they needed to wait for a final determination from DEA Headquarters. The petition claims MMJ did not receive a final determination from the DEA despite numerous follow-up attempts.
Furthermore, DEA personnel told MMJ officials that the agency still hadn’t made the final determination and they had “no idea” when the DEA would make the determination. According to the court filing, DEA personnel responded to subsequent inquiries on the progress of the final determination with statements such as, “Why do you want to know?” and “We’ll get to it when we get to it.”
MMJ states that the DEA still hasn’t made a final determination on its in-house cannabis cultivation license for research purposes for “some inexplicable reason,” even though the agency granted it a research license.
Company president Duane Boise argued in a press release that the DEA had failed its legislative mandate and pledged to get to the bottom of the issue.
About CNW420
CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.
To receive instant SMS alerts, text CANNABIS to 21000 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only)
For more information please visit https://www.CNW420.com
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer
Do you have questions or are you interested in working with CNW420? Ask our Editor
CannabisNewsWire420
Denver, Colorado
http://www.CNW420.com
303.498.7722 Office
Editor@CannabisNewsWire.com
CNW420 is part of the InvestorBrandNetwork.
This post was originally published by our media partner here.
