Surgeon General Says Weed Is Good (Sometimes), Mmkay?

The Surgeon General for the first time says that weed may be good for some medical conditions.

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Newly-confirmed Surgeon General Vivek Murthy appeared on CBS This Morning to talk about vaccinations, but the hosts wouldn't let him get out of there until he shared his position on weed

After the question was pressed by host Gayle King, Murthy, the country's chief spokesman for public health, went on the record for the first time saying medical marijuana can be useful:


“We have some preliminary data showing that for certain medical conditions and symptoms, medical marijuana can be helpful. You have to use that data to drive policy-making, and I'm very interested to see where that data takes us.”

But pump the brakes before you take another giant bong rip to try to cure your athlete's foot. Murthy issued a statement a few hours after the interview to expand on what he said, probably because the whole Internet was running around going "Woohoo! Weed is good for you!" after his TV appearance. 


"Marijuana policy -- and all public health policies -- should be driven by science. I believe that marijuana should be subjected to the same, rigorous clinical trials and scientific scrutiny that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) applies to all new medications. The Federal Government has and continues to fund research on possible health benefits of marijuana and its components. While clinical trials for certain components of marijuana appear promising for some medical conditions, neither the FDA nor the Institute of Medicine have found smoked marijuana to meet the standards for safe and effective medicine for any condition to date."

He forgot to mention how to sign up for those trials. 

[Via Buzzfeed]

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