In case you have not noticed, a new gold rush appears to be under way. Buoyed by surging interest in medical cannabis, big and small companies from around the world are racing to take advantage of the potential for the marijuana plant to cure numerous diseases and take its place in the pantheon of pharmaceutical products.

On a mild day in April 2016, a Marriott Hotel conference room in Hyattsville, Md., was the scene of one of the most politically charged panel meetings the US Food and Drug Administration held in years. A throng of parents and young boys in wheelchairs hoped to convince a committee to endorse the use of a controversial drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare and fatal muscle-wasting disease.

On a mild day in April 2016, a Marriott Hotel conference room in Hyattsville, Md., was the scene of one of the most politically charged panel meetings the US Food and Drug Administration held in years. A throng of parents and young boys in wheelchairs hoped to convince a committee to endorse the use of a controversial drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare and fatal muscle-wasting disease.