UN's INCB Concerned About Medical Cannabis

The UN at the International Narcotics Control Board on medical cannabis
[Note: Disturbed by the increasing medical use of cannabis in the
U.S. and elsewhere, the UN bureaucrats are pressing to have the US
institute a national cannabis agency, as called for in the Single
Convention Treaty.
Will the US kowtow to the UN's pressure for cannabis socialism?
Don't bank on the Bush administration to stand by free-market
America-first principles when it comes to drugs! - DG]

From http://www.incb.org/e/ind_pres.htm <http://www.incb.org/e/ind_pres.htm>

Cannabis is included in Schedules I and IV of the 1961 Convention. According
to article 3 of the 1961 Convention, drugs in Schedule IV are those
considered particularly liable to abuse and to produce ill effects. Since
the end of the 1990s, scientific research on the therapeutic usefulness of
cannabis or cannabis extracts is in progress in several countries, including
Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the
United States.

166. In 2004, the Board contacted the countries where such research was
known to take place, asking for the findings of the studies in question. The
replies received so far from the relevant countries indicate that results of
such research regarding the potential therapeutic usefulness of cannabis or
cannabis extracts remain limited. The Board therefore wishes to voice
concern about the medical use of cannabis in Canada and the Netherlands and
in some jurisdictions of the United States, in the absence of conclusive
results on the effectiveness of such use. The Board confirms that it
welcomes sound scientific research in this respect, as stated in previous
reports,30 and trusts that the results, when available, will be shared with
the Board, WHO and the international community.

167. Articles 23 and 28 of the 1961 Convention provide for a national
cannabis agency to be established in countries where the cannabis plant is
cultivated licitly for the production of cannabis, even if the cannabis
produced is used for research purposes only. The Board notes that the
Government of the United Kingdom plans to establish a national cannabis
agency by the end of 2004 and that the Government of Switzerland is taking
steps to provide a legislative basis for the establishment of such an agency
in that country.

168. The Board notes with concern that the Governments of several countries
where research on the medical use of cannabis or cannabis extracts is taking
place or where the medical use of cannabis is permitted have had
difficulties furnishing in a timely manner relevant estimates and
statistical reports on production, imports, exports and consumption of
cannabis or cannabis extracts, in accordance with the 1961 Convention. The
Board wishes to remind the Governments concerned that the relevant treaty
provisions must be implemented and reiterates its request to those
Governments to take the necessary steps to ensure their compliance with
those provisions.
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