A Cannabis-Based Medication Might Win FDA Approval

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Photo: British Medical Marjuana Drug - AP
GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, a medicine made from the marijuana plant but without TCH. The medicine reduced seizures in children with severe forms of epilepsy and warrants approval in the United States, health officials said Tuesday, April 17, 2018.

The Food and Drug Administration may allow a product derived from cannabis to be considered legal medicine -- the first time that's ever happened. Via The Associated Press:

British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals is seeking permission to sell its purified form of an ingredient found in cannabis — one that doesn't get users high — as a medication for rare, hard-to-treat seizures in children. If successful, the company's liquid formula would be the first government-approved drug derived from the cannabis plant in the U.S.

But Hemp Industry Daily reporter Kristen Nichols tells Colorado Matters not everyone in the industry is happy with the development.

The cannabis industry has been arguing for years that marijuana could be used for medicinal purposes, but right now it's officially classified by the government as having “no currently accepted medical use.”