Panelist Dr. Paul Palmberg, an ophthalmologist at the University of Miami School of Medicine, said one of his glaucoma patients is among only eight U.S. patients supplied marijuana by the government. Since studies by the NIH, along with the Food and Drug Administration, are instrumental in approving new drugs for the U.S. market, the study eventually could lead to a policy shift. Currently, the administration opposes medical marijuana use. We have not been in favor of any form of medicinal use. But at the same time, we have acknowledged that it should be explored as a question of science.
Some critics fear the study is the beginning of a movement to legalize marijuana.
Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project, a group favoring medical use of the drug, said the government is moving too slowly.