There is huge potential for legal cannabis to be diverted to uses unrelated to medical care, especially among young people. This will add to our already growing problem of prescription drug abuse and the enforcement of illegal drug laws. 

Unlike FDA approved medications, cannabis has not been subjected to rigorous testing to determine proper dosing levels, and methods of administration. There is no way under the various state based medical cannabis laws, that dosing levels can be controlled, particularly with smoking as the most common form of use. We remain concerned that after decades of fighting tobacco use, it is contradictory to now suggest that smoking marijuana will not create many of the same respiratory problems created by smoking tobacco. 

AMS believes that given the potential for cannabis to help alleviate some conditions and symptoms, it is time for federal officials to lift the Schedule I classification and create an avenue, along with appropriate funding, to conduct well-designed clinical research that will enable cannabis and its related components to be treated like other prescription drugs, available in dosage controlled delivery systems and subject to the same rigorous product safety testing that we expect from our prescription drug system.