Marijuana’s biggest adversary on Capitol Hill is sponsoring a bill to research … marijuana

There is no shortage of marijuana reform opponents in Congress, like Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) who is one of the more outspoken legislators as he is known for single-handedly taking out the bill that would've allowed legal pot shops in the District of Columbia, but now he is partnering up with Congress's "top legal pot advocate" on a bill that would allow for easier access to marijuana for medical research. The DEA is currently considering the rescheduling of marijuana, but the congressman say they aren't going to "wait for the DEA to figure out what's going on". The current system involved in researching marijuana is so lengthy and complex that it took a team of scientists 7 years for approval to research marijuana to treat PTSD in veterans.

"It's a Catch-22 that the research is difficult because of the strict rules, and the rules are strict because of the lack of research," he said. His thinking on the drug hasn't changed, he says: "I think medical marijuana should be much more strictly controlled than it is now." But, he adds, "as a physician I would never want to deny a medicine to a patient that has been shown, with scientific rigor, to help them.