Medical Marijuana: Legalizing Charlotte's Web (H.R. 5226)

What is H.R. 5226?

(Updated July 18, 2017)

This bill would change the Controlled Substances Act to exclude therapeutic hemp and cannabidiol (CBD) from the category of marijuana.

This means that cannabis plants with concentrations of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) — the main psychoactive chemical in weed — of 0.3 percent or lower would not technically be considered marijuana, and thus be legal for use.

H.R. 5226 gets its name from Charlotte Figi, a 7-year-old Colorado girl with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. After years of debilitating seizures (as many as 1,200 seizures every month), her parents managed to successfully treat her with a strain of high-CBD, low-THC medical cannabis called "Charlotte's Web."

If passed, this H.R. 5226 would mark the first piece of federal legislation that recognizes the medical application of cannabis plants.

Argument in favor

Would legalize mild forms of therapeutic Cannabis used to treat chronic conditions — like epileptic seizures in children. Medical marijuana is already legal in 23 states.

Argument opposed

Legalizing medical cannabis at the federal level violates the wishes of voters in states where it is not legal. Voters are far from a consensus on whether to give children Cannabis-based medicine.

Impact

All 50 states in the union, medical marijuana dispensaries, medical marijuana users, medical marijuana producers, the FDA.

Cost of H.R. 5226

The CBO doesn’t have a cost estimate for this bill at this time.

Additional Info

 Media:

Sponsoring Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) Press Release

Vice News

Huffington Post

(Photo Credit: THCFinder.com)