Curbelo and Sessions are at odds over the issue
By KEVIN DERBY Sunshine State News
U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., is calling on U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to allow more companies to research how Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can be used for medicinal purposes.
Noting that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency had approved plans for Tilray, a company based out of British Columbia, to import CBD and THC for studies on how to treat nerve pain, Curbelo called on the U.S. Department of Justice to get out of the way of domestic companies trying to do the same thing.
“Allowing a Canadian company to do what American companies are still waiting on the Department of Justice to grant them permission to do is incomprehensible,” Curbelo said on Wednesday. “The United States has countless companies, including several in my home state of Florida, that are well-equipped to provide high quality cannabis extracts, but they are being roadblocked by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ senseless witch hunt against an entire industry of legal, state-regulated small businesses.
“With this announcement, the attorney general and the Department of Justice’s arcane prohibition on researching the effects of cannabis are now complicit in shipping American jobs and dollars abroad,” Curbelo added.
The South Florida Republican, who sits on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, called on Congress to act and applauded how it was rallying behind a proposal form U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla..
“Congress can and must act. I’m pleased that just last week the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R.5634, the Medical Cannabis Research Act, of which I am a proud cosponsor, to require the Justice Department to issue at least two more licenses to U.S. facilities to grow cannabis for research. I am hopeful that this bill will be considered on the House floor as soon as possible, and I urge my colleagues to support its passage. American jobs are at stake,” Curbelo said.