For more than half a century, federal law stopped all private-sector companies from selling the Schedule I drug for medical research. But York County-based Groff North America said it became the first business in the country last month to bring a cannabis crop to market legally for scientific study.
Originally a hemp company, the Pennsylvania firm was 1 of just 4 nationally to win approval from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency last spring to sell their product for medical and scientific purposes. Before, researchers had been restricted since 1968 to using only cannabis from a center at the University of Mississippi.
Groff North America founder and chief medical officer, Dr. Steven Groff, called the liberalization of DEA policy “a huge catalyst to unleashing the American scientific community.”
“For the first time, real-world marijuana will be available to researchers throughout the country,” he said. “We’re working with some of the top institutions in America in providing new types of material that heretofore wasn’t available from Mississippi.”
Groff said those items include the vaping and oil products that patients can already obtain in the 37 states where medical marijuana is legal.
“Medical cannabis has really exploded in America over the last 25 years,” Groff said. “The horse has left the barn, and America has decided it wants access to cannabis in one way or another. The [federal] government needs to really catch up as does the scientific community.” [Read More @ WESA]
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