At an appearance at the National Black Caucus of State Legislators annual conference, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the former Indiana health commissioner, said that while he believes medical cannabis “should be like any other [pharmaceutical] drug” he does not support recreational legalization, according to a News and Tribune report.
Adams suggests the Food and Drug Administration should “vet it” and “study it,” noting that the agency has approved some cannabis derivatives, including CBD oil. Adams’ primary opposition to recreational use seems to be the act of smoking and he said he doesn’t want to see an “epidemic of lung cancer” 10 years down the road from people smoking cannabis for either medical or recreational purposes.
“So while I want to make sure we can get the ingredients of medical marijuana appropriately derived so that folks can access treatment, I also have concerns about us encouraging folks to go out and smoke because there’s unintended consequences.” – Surgeon General Adams
Adams pointed out that the two top health issues among Americans is obesity and smoking and he couldn’t tell people not to smoke cigarettes but say that smoking a joint isn’t harmful.
The Surgeon General also indicated he had recently met with FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to discuss non-opioid treatments for pain; however, he did not indicate whether those discussions included medical cannabis access.