A pair of Republican lawmakers on Thursday sent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a letter criticizing their \u201clack of action\u201d and \u201ccontinued silence\u201d on marijuana reform and urging the administration to reschedule cannabis under federal law.<\/p>\n
Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Don Young (R-AK), both co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, first requested that the president take steps to reclassify marijuana<\/a> under the Controlled Substances Act in July. They\u2019ve yet to receive a response to that initial letter, a spokesperson for Joyce told Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n The new letter discusses the \u201csignificant research restrictions\u201d caused by marijuana\u2019s Schedule I classification, which \u201ccontinues to thwart the treatment of a wide range of patients, including those suffering from cancer as well as veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to those living with multiple sclerosis and seizure disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n And for the sake of researchers, medical professionals and patients across the United States who continue to lose access to life-saving therapies and data every day #cannabis<\/a> remains over controlled\u2026<\/p>\n I will keep asking.<\/p>\n \u2014 Dave Joyce (@RepDaveJoyce) December 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cTo be clear, we do not negate the benefit of traditional therapies, but question why the federal government continues to bar access to innovative, proven\u2014and in many cases\u2014safer alternatives,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.<\/p>\n This is yet another example of legislators taking a demand for reform directly to the president, who has disappointed advocates in his first year in office by declining to take meaningful steps to change the country\u2019s approach to cannabis despite campaigning on a pro-decriminalization and pre-rescheduling platform.<\/p>\n Since the election, neither the president or vide president\u2014who sponsored a legalization bill while serving in the Senate\u2014have spoken about their cannabis campaign pledges.<\/p>\n \u201cAs both legislative chambers continue to debate the merits of various common-sense proposals on the issue of cannabis reform and a complete end to federal prohibition garners more and more bipartisan support, your administration\u2019s absence from these debates and lack of action, which is inconsistent with previous statements you have made on the topic, is of serious concern,\u201d Joyce and Young wrote to Biden and Harris. \u201cEach day cannabis remains overly scheduled, patients and researchers across the United States continue to lose access to life-saving therapies and data.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFurther, cannabis\u2019 Schedule I classification puts the U.S. far behind many of our international partners and scientific competitors including: Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Malta and the Netherlands,\u201d the letter continues.<\/p>\n In a similar vein, a coalition of 37 congressional lawmakers sent a letter to Biden in February, imploring him to use executive authority to issue mass pardons<\/a> for people with federal marijuana convictions on their records. Some of those legislators recently sent a follow-up letter demanding a status update<\/a>.<\/p>\n This has become a familiar request over the course of Biden\u2019s first year in office. Advocates, lawmakers, celebrities and others have repeatedly pressed the president to made good on his campaign pledge and provide relief to those with cannabis convictions.<\/p>\n Yet so far, the only pardons to take place under the Biden administration have\u00a0benefited turkeys at a ceremonial Thanksgiving event<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the new letter on marijuana rescheduling, the GOP lawmakers said that they \u201ccan appreciate when leaders come with different concerns and priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n However, \u201cwith nearly two thirds of Americans in agreement on the need for federal cannabis reform, your administration must begin to seriously engage on the topic, regardless of where you stand,\u201d they said. \u201cYour continued silence speaks volumes.\u201d<\/p>\n Yesterday @CPEARCoalition<\/a> and I heard from respected doctors\/researchers \u2013 @drstacigruber<\/a> and Dr. Malik Burnett \u2013 who spoke to how #cannabis<\/a>‘ Schedule I classification obstructs critical, life-saving research.<\/p>\n Again highlighting the need for @POTUS<\/a> to start engaging on the issue pic.twitter.com\/uEL7p6DU4z<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Dave Joyce (@RepDaveJoyce) December 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n This letter comes about a month after a group of senators separately sent a letter urging Biden to use his executive authority<\/a>\u00a0to grant a mass pardon for people with non-violent marijuana convictions.<\/p>\n Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who led that letter, said during a recent interview that Biden could boost the economy and promote racial equity\u00a0with the \u201cstroke of a pen\u201d by granting the relief<\/a>.<\/p>\n A recently published Congressional Research Service (CRS) report affirmed that the president has it within his power to\u00a0grant mass pardons for cannabis offenses<\/a>. It also said that the administration can move to federally legalize cannabis without waiting for lawmakers to act.<\/p>\n Relatedly, a\u00a0group of more than 150 celebrities, athletes, politicians, law enforcement professionals and academics\u00a0signed a letter that was delivered to Biden<\/a>\u00a0in September, urging him to issue a \u201cfull, complete and unconditional pardon\u201d to all people with non-violent federal marijuana convictions.<\/p>\n That letter came just as the administration started encouraging about\u00a01,000 people who were temporarily placed on home confinement for federal drug offenses<\/a>\u00a0to fill out clemency application forms.<\/p>\n Warren and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately\u00a0sent a letter to the attorney general in October<\/a>, making the case that the Justice Department should initiate a marijuana descheduling process in order to \u201callow states to regulate cannabis as they see fit, begin to remedy the harm caused by decades of racial disparities in enforcement of cannabis laws, and facilitate valuable medical research.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House said in August that the president was\u00a0looking into using his executive authority<\/a>\u00a0to grant clemency to people with certain non-violent drug convictions.<\/p>\n Biden has faced criticism from drug policy reform advocates who\u2019ve grown frustrated that he\u2019s yet to make good on campaign promises such as decriminalizing marijuana possession. The president also campaigned on expunging prior cannabis records and respecting the rights of states to set their own laws.<\/p>\n Since taking office, however, his administration has made little progress on any of those pledges and has instead\u00a0fired its own White House staffers over marijuana<\/a>\u00a0and sought to extend a budget provision that has\u00a0blocked Washington, D.C. from legalizing cannabis sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n In April, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on Biden\u2019s clemency promise for people with federal marijuana and said that process\u00a0will start with modestly rescheduling cannabis<\/a>\u2014a proposal that advocates say wouldn\u2019t actually accomplish what she\u2019s suggesting.<\/p>\n Moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act, as Biden is proposing, wouldn\u2019t facilitate mass clemency given that being convicted for crimes related to drugs in that slightly lower category\u2014which currently includes cocaine\u2014also carries significant penalties.<\/p>\n Read the new letter<\/a> to Biden and Harris on marijuana rescheduling below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Click to access joyce-young-rescheduling-letter-to-biden-dec-2021.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n Congressional Memo Touts Marijuana Momentum In 2021 And Lays Out 2022 Reform Priorities<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post GOP Lawmakers Blast Biden And Harris Over \u2018Continued Silence\u2019 On Marijuana And Urge Rescheduling<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A pair of Republican lawmakers on Thursday sent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a letter criticizing their \u201clack of action\u201d and \u201ccontinued silence\u201d on marijuana reform and urging the administration to reschedule cannabis under federal law. Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Don Young (R-AK), both co-chairs ofContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51786,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51785\/revisions\/51786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: GOP Lawmakers Blast Biden And Harris Over \u2018Continued Silence\u2019 On Marijuana And Urge Rescheduling<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"