Yep, you've got it. It's not just me though... it's the entire medical community. In the US we don't accept "herbal remedies" or any other non-standardized, non-tested substance to be doled out in little pill bottles. And yes, when weed's components are synthesized and standardized it might become medicine. (All medicines are listed in the Physicians Desk Reference. If it ain't in there, it ain't medicine).
You do realize that the US isn't the only country in the world right? Dismissing every other country's culture and history in medicine because it doesn't follow the standards of our broken healthcare system is obtuse at best. I keep a copy of both the Merck Manual and the Physician's Desk Reference on the shelf for reference. But I also keep books on herbal and non-traditional medicine. There are times when both are mutually beneficial. It doesn't always have to be black and white with medicine.
This might come as a shock to you, but people having been using alternative forms of medicine since the birth of mankind itself. If early man was told they could heal their wounds with herbs because it wasn't in the Physician's Desk Reference, you and I wouldn't be here today, mate.
-Fuse
Ok, now you're back to being lost. The FDA is the lead authority in the free world on this subject. If you live in the western world then what I said applies.
Witch-doctors are not doctors and the "drugs and snake oil" they use are not medicine. Don't defend snake oil salespersons, they are out to make a buck at the expense of good people's well being.