When marijuana becomes a Schedule III instead of a Schedule I substance under federal rules, researchers will face fewer barriers to studying it. But there will still be some roadblocks for science.
Francis Collins has served longer than any other director of the National Institutes of Health since 1971. He tells NPR he did not anticipate the culture wars taking over scientific fact.
Faced with a glut of pandemic research from around the world, scientists are confronting their biases and learning to engage with science conducted at institutions they're unfamiliar with.