All rulemaking procedures involving marijuana and cannabinoids are based on the scientific record as it existed in 1988. Since then fundamental and profound discoveries have radically altered the way scientists consider and study marijuana and its constituent parts.

Between 1988 and 1993 a scientific revolution occurred in the field of marijuana and cannabinoid research. The epochal event of the scientific revolution was the localization and characterization of a cannabinoid receptor system in the human brain in 1990 by Miles Herkenham and his research team at the National Institute of Mental Health. (1)