Sanjay Gupta apologizes for prior demand to ban marijuana for medicinal purpose

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a faculty member in the department of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, has apologized for his earlier criticism of medical marijuana for running a high risk of potential addiction.

According to CBS News, Gupta said that earlier he was dismissive of the proofs of genuine patients whose symptoms improved with help from the medical marijuana.

He also clarified that he believed the Drug Enforcement Agency had listed marijuana as a schedule 1 substance, a category of dangerous drugs, with sound scientific proof, the report added.

Earlier, Gupta had claimed that more research was required into the use of medical marijuana for treating pain and a stricter approval process for which it has to go through several health agencies, like the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

However, he now said that marijuana does not have a high potential for addiction compared to cocaine, or even cigarettes.

Meanwhile, Gupta also cited a case of a 3-year-old, whose seizures were dramatically reduced from 300-a-week to three-a-month with medical marijuana's help.

Medical marijuana is currently legalized in 20 states and the District of Columbia: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington State.

However, recent research has suggested that marijuana may affect a teen's IQ or raise risk for psychiatric disorders, like schizophrenia.