Want to study the impact of marijuana legalization in the states of Colorado and Washington? You can apply for a 2 million dollar grant from the Obama administration. One caveat - you can only research the negative impacts. Obama only wants to see the research that supports his position.
Obama ran on integrating science and policy, and he's come through on that promise in many areas. But there should have been a footnote to his promise of scientific integrity noting that when it comes to drug policy, he only intends to integrate science that supports his position.
To be sure, the White House is all about policy based in science when it comes to rhetoric. Obama's Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowski loves to stress the scientific approach his office takes when choosing to criminalize drugs:
"[Legalization is] not humane or realistic, and not grounded in scientific evidence."
"When implementing drug policies we must rely on science, not dogma. We must rely on research, not ideology. That is why the President’s drug policy we released three weeks ago outlines specific alternatives and actions to take that are compassionate, effective - and most importantly - grounded in science."
"All of [the Obama administration's drug] policies are grounded in science and research -- not politics or ideology."
These statements imply the administration is taking a balanced approach to researching the impacts of criminalization
and legalization. How else could they assure us that science supports one over the other?
And yet they're apparently only interested in funding research on the negative impacts of legalization, specifically. Any proposed research on marijuana legalization for NIH funding must:
Contribute to a greater understanding of the implications of marijuana legalization laws/policies on attitudes, substance use, misuse, dependence, disorder, related health outcomes such as HIV risk behaviors, and other risk behaviors such as drugged driving.
Noticably lacking from the NIH list of grants is any funding allowing for research that might discover positive impacts of marijuana legalization. Because why would Americans want scientific data that doesn't support the administration's position?