By Tom Angell
The Drug Enforcement Administration announced Thursday that is has decided to keep marijuana in Schedule I, the most restrictive category under federal law.
Cannabis law reform advocates reacted swiftly — and negatively — to the news.
Here’s an overview of what people are saying…
Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee (D):
“I am disappointed that we don’t have a national standard for at least medical marijuana. Regardless, following the will of Washington state voters, we will continue to maintain a well-regulated adult-use marijuana system and continue to allow patients to have access for necessary medicinal purposes. A portion of revenues from the marijuana sales in our state goes toward treatment and youth prevention… As states continue to legalize medical and recreational marijuana, there is more that the federal government must to do to provide states with legal certainty and empower the operation of safe systems across the country.”
“Lack of federal guidance on banking and environmental issues has put Oregonians at risk, and today’s decision didn’t address those concerns, as we’d hoped. The DEA’s decision shortsightedly focuses on the technical, not practical, aspects of marijuana regulation. This makes it more difficult for states that have legalized marijuana use, or who are poised to, to proceed lawfully and safely.”
Maya Harris, Senior Policy Advisor to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign:
“Marijuana is already being used for medical purposes in states across the country, and it has the potential for even further medical use. As Hillary Clinton has said throughout this campaign, we should make it easier to study marijuana so that we can better understand its potential benefits, as well as its side effects. As president, Hillary will build on the important steps announced today by rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II substance. She will also ensure Colorado, and other states that have enacted marijuana laws, can continue to serve as laboratories of democracy.”
“The DEA’s failure to reclassify marijuana is disappointing. There are Americans who can realize real medical benefits if this treatment option is brought out of the shadows, and choosing to ignore the medical value of marijuana defies common sense and the scientific evidence. Currently, 25 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws supporting its medical use, and it’s time that federal policy caught up.”
Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN):
“Marijuana must be rescheduled. Numerous physicians and 25 states recognize the medical benefits of marijuana and keeping marijuana as Schedule I—with heroin and LSD—is ludicrous. It is an injustice and an anachronism. It is an extreme example of a cultural lag as society has moved way ahead of our outdated drug laws. The Attorney General can and should act to better reflect the science, the medical research, and the opinions of the American people when it comes to the federal classification of marijuana. And by the way, congratulations to Michael Phelps, the world’s greatest athlete.”
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR):
“Keeping marijuana at Schedule I continues an outdated, failed approach—leaving patients and marijuana businesses trapped between state and federal laws… Americans have spoken, with a majority supporting full legalization. It’s not enough to remove some barriers to medical research. Marijuana shouldn’t be listed as Schedule I; it shouldn’t be listed at all. It is imperative, as part of the most progressive Administration on marijuana in history, that the DEA work to end the failed prohibition of marijuana.”
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA):
“The decision by the DEA to continue to categorize marijuana in the same schedule as heroin, LSD, and other very dangerous drugs shows the disconnect between the Obama administration and the common sense of the American people. The government’s continued allocation of resources and controls with the intent of trying to prevent the adult use of marijuana has been counterproductive and an indefensible limitation of people’s right to control their own lives. The Obama administration has had the chance to correct a foolish and counterproductive policy. Now it’s up to the Congress and the next administration.
“Essentially, the DEA decided that marijuana will remain a Schedule 1 drug – meaning it’s illegal for any purpose and puts marijuana on par with heroin, ecstasy and several other narcotics. One of the main reasons the DEA said it won’t reclassify marijuana is because there aren’t enough studies showing if marijuana has medicinal benefits. What’s frustrating is that because the DEA says marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, it’s extremely difficult for medical researchers to access the drug to study it!”
Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO):
“The Drug Enforcement Administration’s decision to keep marijuana as a Schedule I drug is frustrating, unscientific, and, frankly, out of touch. It is ridiculous to classify marijuana alongside other Schedule I drugs like heroin. This is further evidence that it is past time that Congress legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol, using Colorado as an example.”
“The DEA’s refusal to reclassify marijuana to permit medical use is a cruel decision that ignores the suffering of patients who find well-documented relief in medical cannabis products. It also shows a profound disregard for where the medical community and the American public stand on the issue. Medical decisions should be made between a patient and his or her doctor–not the government. The DEA’s policy perpetuates the nonsensical divergence between state and federal medical marijuana policies. The DEA should be spending its limited resources on targeting high priority narcotics rather than erecting roadblocks to medical marijuana.”
“While the DEA continues to dig in on Schedule I status, deeming no medical benefit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services simultaneously holds a patent on cannabinoids for a wide range of medicinal purposes. The DEA continues to place marijuana alongside heroin and LSD as drugs with high abuse potential even though the DEA’s own former chief administrative law judge, Francis Young, disagreed with this… That a plant could provide so much benefit and still remain behind these locked doors is worth speaking up about.”
Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project:
“The DEA’s refusal to remove marijuana from Schedule I is, quite frankly, mind-boggling. It is intellectually dishonest and completely indefensible. Not everyone agrees marijuana should be legal, but few will deny that it is less harmful than alcohol and many prescription drugs. It is less toxic, less addictive, and less damaging to the body.”
Michael Collins of the Drug Policy Alliance:
“Keeping marijuana in Schedule I shows that the DEA continues to ignore research, and places politics above science. In reality, marijuana should be descheduled and states should be allowed to set their own policies… Marijuana prohibition ruins thousands of lives every year through meaningless arrests – disproportionately impacting people of color. Thankfully, voters in numerous states are legalizing marijuana through ballot initiatives. The next Administration must move quickly to end federal prohibition, and undo this destructive and racially-biased policy”
Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws:
“There exist over 25,000 peer-reviewed papers specific to cannabis (by contrast, a PubMed database search using the key word ‘adderall’ yields fewer than 200 total papers), and unlike conventional therapeutics, humans have been using cannabis for therapeutic purposes for thousands of years. Twenty-six states now authorize the plant’s medicinal use by statute, and one in eight Americans self-identify as current consumers… There is nothing scientific about willful ignorance.”
But marijuana law reform advocates weren’t the only ones with something to say about whether cannabis should be rescheduled…
Here’s how DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg himself justified the decision:
“Using established scientific standards that are consistent with that same FDA drug approval process and based on the FDA’s scientific and medical evaluation, as well as the legal standards in the CSA, marijuana will remain a schedule I controlled substance. It does not have a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse. If the scientific understanding about marijuana changes – and it could change – then the decision could change. But we will remain tethered to science, as we must, and as the statute demands. It certainly would be odd to rely on science when it suits us and ignore it otherwise.”
Finally, here’s a reaction from leading prohibitionist Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana:
“We’re pleased to see that the Obama Administration — using the exhaustive ‘eight factor’ scientific analysis required by law — understands the science the way we and almost every single major medical association in the country understand it. Big Marijuana was counting on President Obama to reschedule or even deschedule marijuana, in order to circumvent the FDA process to turn a quick profit on unregulated products. But this decision means that medications based on marijuana will have to go through the same rigorous testing process as all of our other medications.”v
