Following two years of collaboration with the medical marijuana
industry, the American Herbal Products Association said Thursday that it
was providing recommendations to state officials looking to regulate
medical pot.
The American Herbal Products Association, founded in 1982 to
represent botanical medicine companies, had not previously announced its
alliance with medical marijuana and the trade organization Americans
for Safe Access, which represents pot dispensaries and other elements of
the industry.
The alliance gives medical marijuana a broader presence in Washington
and a less controversial trade group to help it work the corridors of
power. The American Herbal Products Association has reduced its lobbying
and campaign giving in recent years, but has spent nearly $2 million
lobbying since 1998.
A chief argument against marijuana as a medicine centers around its
lack of approval by the Food and Drug Administration. On Wednesday, a
judge rejected an effort to reclassify the drug, citing a lack of
compelling evidence of its medical value.
Millions of people, however, attest to pot’s medical benefits.
Advocates said the association with other herbal and botanical
treatments will help policymakers think of marijuana more rationally.
"The AHPA Cannabis Committee includes in its charter a responsibility
to develop policy recommendations that support safe use of products
derived from cannabis species," Michael McGuffin, American Herbal
Products Association president, said in a statement. "This initial work
should be well received by state regulators, who share our commitment to
ensuring safe access to medical marijuana for their citizens."
Americans for Safe Access said decades of overseeing herbal product
safety makes the the American Herbal Products Association uniquely
qualified to apply that experience to medical marijuana.
The
American Herbal Products Association said it has delivered
recommendations to lawmakers in California, Massachusetts and Colorado.
