White House Drug Czar Recognizes Benefits Of Medical Marijuana, Calls For More Research

The United States is in the grip of an opioid overdose epidemic. To tackle the situation, institutions responsible for stemming the crisis seem to be open to alternative solutions.

White House drug czar Rahul Gupta, for example, weighed in on the issue during a recent interview with KSTP-TV in Minnesota. He also talked about marijuana and policy reform around its legalization, indicating that sentiment toward the plant is shifting.

"The President has said this before that people should not be incarcerated just for their use alone and it is also true that there are some medical benefits we've seen, but I think it's important to keep monitoring," said Gupta, who serves as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Asked about the Minnesota Legislature's vote to legalize edibles and beverages with hemp-derived THC, Gupta said that they are "monitoring" the legalization movement across the states as well as "data that comes out of it." He noted that the administration is seeking to better understand "what is the impact on communities, what is the business impact, what does the cost impact, what is the public health impact as well as the impact of the criminal justice."

Meanwhile, Gupta said earlier this year that the Biden administration would prioritize "harm reduction" as a response to drug abuse while examining information on marijuana legalization and safe injection sites.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control revealed that over 107,000 people died of a drug overdose last year in the US, representing an increase of nearly 50% in two years. Based on these statistics, Gupta said it's evident that decades of anti-drug campaigns have been a failure.

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