Robin Abcarian: Congress says it's liberalizing pot research laws. What pot researchers really need is money

Despite some recent baby steps, the untangling of the federal government's enduring and preposterous opposition to cannabis as a medicine or recreational substance is going to take a long, long time.

Nevertheless, I was delighted to read that the Senate had recently passed a bipartisan legislation loosening rules about cannabis research, "Cannabidiol and Marihuana Research Expansion Act." (The strange spelling has an unfortunate historical precedent.)

That is, until I spoke to a well-known cannabis researcher and a couple of attorneys who have sued the federal government on her behalf.

The Senate bill's