Regulation of cannabis by the federal government , specifically the Food & Drug Administration, was unthinkable less than a decade ago, but it will someday soon be a reality. The FDA is already aware of the non-approved uses of cannabis to treat conditions such as AIDS wasting, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, and several others. The agency has also approved one cannabis-derived drug product: Epidiolex (cannabidiol), used to treat seizures, and three synthetic cannabis-related drug products: Marinol (dronabinol), Syndros (dronabinol), and Cesamet (nabilone), all of which treat nausea due to chemotherapy. These approvals don’t signal a trend toward legalization of cannabis, but they do show that the FDA’s studies of cannabis are starting to bear some fruit. The most recent official guidance from the FDA regarding cannabis regulation was published in January 2021. In this communication, the FDA reassured readers that they are aware of the public interest in using cannabis to develop treat...
