Pres. Obama's new Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, appears to support the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. In an interview with CBS News, he stated:
'Marijuana's an interesting story that's unfolding in our country right now. We have had a long history of discussion around the benefits and risks of marijuana. We have experiments that are going on in many states right now, where medical marijuana's been legalized and a few states where it's been legalized for recreation. My position is we have to see what the science tells us about the efficacy of marijuana. I think we're going to get a lot more data on that. We have some preliminary data showing that for certain medical conditions and symptoms marijuana can be helpful. I think we have to use that data to drive policy making. I'm very interested to see where that data takes us.'
Murthy, who founded Doctors for America, is not the first Surgeon General to favor marijuana. While she worked in the Clinton White House, Jocelyn Elders called for the legalization of all illicit drugs.
