FDA - DEA- NIH - NIDA - Controlling Cannabis

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), "medicines today are expected to be of known composition and quality. Even in cases where marijuana can provide relief of symptoms, the crude plant mixture does not meet this modern expectation. The future of medical marijuana lies in classical pharmacological drug development, and indeed there has been a resurgence of scientific, as well as public, interest in the therapeutic applications of cannabinoids."  

Further - "Current scientific accomplishments have propelled interest in developing new drugs that can treat more effectively or more safely the constellation of symptoms for which cannabinoids might have therapeutic benefit  Through the process of what is referred to as “rational drug design,” scientists manipulate the chemical structures of known cannabinoids to design better therapeutic agents."

Under the Controlled Substances Act, cannabis is a schedule 1 drug and participating countries are required to restrict production, manufacture, possession and distribution of cannabis except for medical and scientific purposes.

The DEA regulates the cultivation of cannabis for research purposes through licensing requirements and establishing production quotas under the authority of the CSA.

 To conduct clinical drug research with Cannabis in the US, researchers are required to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA, obtain a Schedule 1 license from the US DEA and obtain approval from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The NIDA, an institute of the National Institute of Health (NIH), is the only organization in the US licensed by the DEA to manufacture and distribute cannabis for research purposes. This function is performed under its Drug Supply Program. Through the program, the NIDA arranges for cannabis to be grown and processed through contracts with two organizations: the University of Mississippi and the Research Triangle Institute. 

This elaborate control began with The Flexner report of 1910 and the recommendations it contained including :

• Train physicians to practice in a scientific manner and engage medical faculty in research;
• Give medical schools control of clinical instruction in hospitals
• Strengthen state regulation of medical licenses 

From this report, medicine was changed forever.  Medicine from natural healing products became known as quackery while lab based synthetic drugs - based on "science" - became known as "safe and effective" sound medicine. 

The following has noted, extensively:

"Naturopathic and homeopathic medicine, medical care focused on unpatentable, uncontrollable natural remedies and cures was now dismissed as quackery; only drug-based allopathic medicine requiring expensive medical procedures and lengthy hospital stays was to be taken seriously...
It should also be noted that drug approval by the FDA permits the drug's manufacturer to market it for the treatment of a single specific symptom or condition. This "one pill for one symptom or condition" mindset, allows for a plethora of drugs with side effects.