Marijuana medical research growers receive U.S. approval

The U.S. government has approved new growers of research marijuana for the first time in more than 50 years, people involved in the process said, widening the capacity to study the drug’s medical value.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s action after years of delay means researchers will be able to study marijuana from more than one grower, a farm at the University of Mississippi, which the government approved in 1968 as the only legal source of pot for federal research. Researchers have long argued that they need to study a wider variety of the plant to know if it can be effective in alleviating pain, fighting seizures, combating depression and relieving post-traumatic stress. Read more →