A Democrat in Congress has started a petition asking the Biden Administration to explain their rationale for changing marijuana’s scheduling under the federal Controlled Substances Act.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) spearheaded a letter that emphasised the importance of transparency in order to promote accountability in your findings, something that has been lacking throughout much of the history of federal marijuana legislation.
We request that “any information given to suggest marijuana is more prone to drug abuse than descheduled substances presently regulated at the state level be made accessible for public review and comment.”
Blumenauer’s office on Tuesday sent a draught letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. The document requests that the CSA be amended to remove cannabis from Schedule I and treat it more similar to other lawful, controlled substances.
The congressman is presently attempting to collect signatures from other legislators who are prepared to sign the letter before next Tuesday.
“Please join me in encouraging the Biden-Harris administration to reschedule marijuana and assure openness in reflecting marijuana’s potential and the reality of the federal-state gap on cannabis policy,” states a supplementary message Blumenauer emailed to colleagues regarding the sign-on letter. He mentioned that 37 states have legalised marijuana for medical purposes and 21 have legalised its usage for adults.
It is pointed out to other legislators that “members from both parties have filed legislation to completely legalise marijuana and help repair the failed federal prohibition,” as these states have shown the way. Since then, the Democratically controlled House has twice voted to remove marijuana from the Scheduled Substances Act. Also, the government must participate in the way forward.
An opening paragraph of the proposed letter to federal cabinet members refers to the administration’s review of cannabis scheduling, characterising it as “an opportunity to make an honest evaluation of the origins and implications of federal policy.”
We know that marijuana was scheduled because of its stigma, not its scientific merit, the letter states. The fact of marijuana’s status as a state-regulated legal substance must be acknowledged, the author writes.
Politico was the first to publish details of the letter, which copies FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.
On December, 29 House and Senate senators from both parties wrote to the president, asking for his support of federal marijuana legalisation as the administration conducts the cannabis scheduling review.
Despite the fact that the senators didn’t specifically ask for Biden to take administrative action to facilitate legalisation on their own, their request reflected a desire for the White House to take a more active role in furthering reform.
On Twitter, Becerra—who was copied on the letter—shared a link to an article in Marijuana Moment that detailed the president’s cannabis-scheduling decision.
During a speech last year, the HHS secretary pledged to conduct the assessment with a scientific perspective.
Becerra, a former congressman and the current California attorney general, has a long history of advocating for cannabis reform. “We’re going to take a look at what science tells us and what the evidence tells us,” he added.
A separate scheduling study, ordered by the president and undertaken by the U.S. Department of Justice, may suggest moving cannabis from its present Schedule I status to a lesser schedule or removing it entirely, thus legalising the plant at the federal level.
In December, Biden signed a bill legalising research on marijuana, marking the first time in the United States that a single piece of federal cannabis reform legislation has been passed on its own.
The President recently made headlines when he announced his decision to pardon those with federal convictions for low-level marijuana possession offences during an event celebrating the close of Black History Month.
Having made a vow, he now intends to see it through. “Possession of little amounts of marijuana should not result in a criminal record.”
Anyone convicted of federal or District of Columbia cannabis possession offences for nonviolent offences are included in the blanket amnesty. It did not release anyone from prison and did not include those with cannabis sales convictions, among others for whom campaigners are fighting.
In a series of polls, Americans have consistently shown that they approve of the president’s pardon move and do not believe that marijuana should be classed as a federal Schedule 1 substance.
Please See Below a Full Copy of The Proposed Letter to Federal Officials.
Attorney General Garland and Secretary Becerra,
The Biden-Harris administration’s formal review of marijuana’s scheduling provides a chance for an open and frank evaluation of the policy’s historical context and potential outcomes. Marijuana’s scheduling was based on prejudice, not evidence. The fact of marijuana’s status as a drug under state control must be acknowledged.
On October 6, 2022, President Biden took an essential and overdue step: he ordered the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice to reevaluate marijuana’s classification in the Controlled Substances Act.
The substance has been widely acknowledged as inappropriately scheduled, from the Schafer Commission’s report Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding (1972) to Justice Stevens’ note in Gonzales v. Raich (2005) to the 21 states with regulated adult use marketplaces and the 37 states with medical marijuana programmes.
To merely reschedule marijuana, however, would also ignore the fact that marijuana is already a substance subject to state regulation. The burden of proof for keeping marijuana on the schedule should be placed on the government during the administrative review.
To fix the failed war on drugs and cannabis prohibition, marijuana should be totally descheduled from the Controlled Substances Act until there is evidence showing that it is more likely to be abused than unscheduled substances already managed at the state level.
Even if Congress decides to de-schedule cannabis, they still have a responsibility to pass broad federal reform. Our efforts are directed towards closing the federal-state policy chasm over cannabis, and proposals for such change have been made by members of both parties.
All of these ideas are respectful of the states’ long-term initiative to reconsider the discriminatory and counterproductive war on drugs’ treatment of marijuana. Given the magnitude of federal inaction on marijuana, the Administration must join Congress and the states in rescheduling the drug.
Transparency is essential to maintain accountability in your findings, something that has been lacking throughout much of the history of federal regulation of marijuana.
We request that any data used to support the claim that marijuana is more prone to drug abuse than descheduled substances already regulated at the state level be made accessible for public study and criticism.
Your divisions should assess the full extent of cannabis research because of the substantial federal limits on cannabis research caused by marijuana’s scheduling. It is the moment for the federal government to take a more evidence-based approach to its marijuana policy.
The scheduling of marijuana is inappropriate. Compared to stimulants and depressants that are already regulated outside of the Controlled Substances Act, medical potential, existing state regulatory frameworks, and reduced harm and abuse make this abundantly clear.
We anticipate the Administration’s constructive partnership with Congress as the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice perform your reviews quickly and carefully.
[[CLOSING]] [[SIGNATURES]]