The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied a request from an anti-legalization group to place marijuana and its derivatives on a list of restricted substances that are not "generally recognized as safe and effective."

The move is "not necessary for the protection of public health," Janet Woodcock, the director of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and research wrote on Monday in a letter to the group, Drug Watch International.

The organization had filed its petition requesting the cannabis crackdown in December, writing that the move would "send an industry-wide warning to the estimated 33,000 marijuana businesses in the U.S., many of which are making unsupported medical claims for marijuana and THC drug products sold as 'medical marijuana.'"

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Tom Angell ~ Forbes.com ~