FDA Green Lights Marijuana-Based Pharmaceutical Drug

Big news hits the world of medical marijuana today as the FDA announces their CBD based drug Epidiolex has now been officially approved for sale and patient consumption! The cannabis based drug has been under review by the FDA for months now and it's approval will mark a major change in how both patients and the government deals with CBD. Medical marijuana patients around the U.S. have had access to CBD medication for a while now, however that medication is often made by a business with little to no regulation regarding the purity, potency, and overall quality of the medication. Epidiolex being approved by the FDA means that the drug will be manufactured under extreme standards as any other pharmaceutical grade medication is, and last but certainly not least the approval means the the DEA will now be forced to change the classification of CBD down from a schedule 1 substance which is considered to have no medicinal value and high potential for abuse. Once the papers are filed and CBD is officially no longer a schedule 1 substance it will open many doors giving researchers much easier access to test the further potential for CBD. 

"This approval serves as a reminder that advancing sound development programs that properly evaluate active ingredients contained in marijuana can lead to important medical therapies," said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb during a call with reporters about the approval.

"The DEA will need to make a different scheduling decision for CBD...because it now has an accepted medical use," he said during a conference call with reporters.

He says the reclassification is underway now.