WASHINGTON Even as President Joe Bidens administration is reconsidering the criminal classification of marijuana an epic policy shift they are dragging their feet on the much simpler question of researching the medical impact of cannabis.

Congress passed a law at the end of 2022 designed to make it easier for organizations such as universities to obtain cannabis and study its potential medical uses, an enterprise hobbled for years by marijuanas illegality at the federal level.

Loosening restrictions on cannabis research was so obviously worthwhile that the law, sponsored by legalization-friendly Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and prominent pot skeptic Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), passed the House by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 325 to 95, and the Senate approved it without even bothering to count votes.

Blumenauer said that as far as he can tell, however, the administration has done nothing to streamline the process for approving cannabis research.

Its embarrassing, Blumenauer, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, told HuffPost. Ive seen no evidence that theyre at work to make this research go much more smoothly. I mean, this not low-hanging fruit this is picking it up off the ground. It just mystifies me.

The law also required the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a report to Congress detailing the potential therapeutic effects of cannabidiol or marijuana on serious medical conditions, the effects of marijuana on on the human body and developing adolescent brains, and barriers to research in states that have legalized marijuana.

The Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, enacted in December 2022, gave HHS a year to submit its report, but the department has yet to do so. Blumenauer and Harris complained about the blown deadline and the continued research obstacles in a March letter to agency heads but received no response.