The White House drug czar on Monday recognized the therapeutic potential of marijuana in pain treatment and said that the Biden administration has not strayed from its support for incremental reforms such as descheduling cannabis. He added that the president believes existing federal marijuana policies \u201chave not worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also responded to a question about how Biden\u2019s annual budget proposals have maintained a rider<\/a> blocking Washington, D.C. from legalizing commercial marijuana sales in the nation\u2019s capital, despite his campaign pledge to respect state autonomy to set their own cannabis policies, placing the onus on Congress to enact a policy change.<\/p>\n Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Rahul Gupta fielded a series of cannabis-related questions during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing<\/a> on Monday. While the administration has faced criticism for failing to make good on President Joe Biden\u2019s marijuana reform campaign pledges, Gupta said he is cognizant of the policy issues that prevail under the status quo of federal prohibition.<\/p>\n One particularly notable exchange came in response to a question from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who pressed the official on the seeming \u201ccontradiction\u201d that marijuana remains a federally banned substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) despite growing evidence that the plant\u2019s constituents can treat chronic pain in a way that is safer than opioids that are less strictly regulated.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is evidence to suggest that, in cases of certain chronic pain, cannabis can be efficacious,\u201d Gupta, who previously provided consulting services to a cannabis company<\/a> prior to serving in the White House, said.<\/p>\n Under current statute, ONDCPis prevented from providing funding \u201cfor any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in Schedule I\u201d under CSA. Yet, one of the key criteria that\u2019s kept cannabis in Schedule I is the government\u2019s insistence that marijuana has no established medical value, despite Gupta\u2019s acknowledgement to the contrary.<\/p>\n Federal law also requires<\/a> the ONDCP director to \u201ctake such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize\u201d marijuana or other Schedule I drugs\u2014making his comments on cannabis\u2019s medical benefits all the more notable.<\/p>\n Marijuana\u2019s Schedule I status \u201cprohibits scientists and researchers from conducting rigorous, large-scale studies on cannabis,\u201d Khanna said in the exchange. Meanwhile, most opioid-based painkillers fall under the less restrictive Schedule II status under CSA.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you see this, Dr. Gupta, as a contradiction that needs to be resolved?\u201d Khanna asked.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, the president has been clear about this in regards to the decriminalization,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cBut also, it\u2019s important for us to continue to look at this from a research perspective, from a medical use perspective. But clearly the policies that we\u2019ve had in this country with regard to marijuana have not worked, and the president has said so.\u201d<\/p>\n The ONDCP director made similar remarks in an interview<\/a> published by Financial Times earlier this month, adding that the administration is actively \u201cmonitoring\u201d states that have legalized marijuana to inform federal policy.<\/p>\n \u201cI know you have to be careful not to get ahead of the president\u2014that you\u2019re being appropriately diplomatic in your responses,\u201d Khanna said. \u201cBut the president has the executive authority to direct DEA, HHS and FDA to consider administratively rescheduling marijuana, which would facilitate research which would facilitate patient access.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m for legalizing\u2014at the very least decriminalizing\u2014but the president could at least make sure that it\u2019s rescheduled so it\u2019s not more restrictive than opioids themselves\u201d with respect to research, the congressman said.<\/p>\n While Khanna asked the director to privately urge the president to take certain steps administratively to loosen research barriers for cannabis, Gupta said simply that \u201cit is the foundation for so many ways to proceed forward, including our current strategy, to follow science, follow data\u2014and I can commit to you that we\u2019re going to continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would just hope you and the administration really will consider the rescheduling and to look at what can make a difference in patients lives and resolve this discrepancy, where currently cannabis, which is actually more effective and isn\u2019t killing thousands of people, is more restrictive than the opioids that have done so much harm in American life,\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n In his earlier interview with Financial Times, Gupta said that the government is \u201clearning from those states [that have enacted cannabis reform]\u201d and \u201cmonitoring the data and trying to see where things go. But one thing is very clear, and the president has been clear about that\u2014the policies that we\u2019ve had around marijuana have not been working.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) also pressed the drug czar on cannabis policy during the Monday hearing, voicing frustration that the Biden administration has continued to propose budgets that keep intact a spending bill rider precluding D.C. from using its local tax dollars from implementing commercial marijuana sales, despite District voters approving legalization in 2014.<\/p>\n The congresswoman said that she\u2019s \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d in the administration\u2019s decision to maintain that appropriations language in its last two budget requests and would be submitted a written question for the record. Nonetheless, Gupta addressed the issue, though he deferred responsibility to the legislative branch.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand it\u2019s with Congress, and I\u2019ll leave it at that,\u201d the director said. \u201cAnd having said that, the president has been very clear that he supports decisions regarding legalization of marijuana to up to individual states\u2014but at the federal level, he has supported decriminalization of marijuana use and the automatic expungement of records. And part of the reason is because of the disparities in incarceration.\u201d<\/p>\n After more than a year in office, however, Biden has faced serious criticism from lawmakers and advocates over the lack of meaningful action to reform federal cannabis policies<\/a>, as he advocated for on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n Gupta also touched on broader drug harm reduction policies throughout Monday\u2019s hearing. He emphasized that the administration is committed to exploring alternative approaches to substance misuse.<\/p>\n Among the specific harm reduction policies under review that Gupta talked about in an earlier interview would be to possible permit safe consumption sites where people could use currently illicit drugs in a medically supervised environment to prevent overdose deaths and help people access treatment resources.<\/p>\n While the Biden administration is still investigating the clinical efficacy of such facilities, Gupta said that the proposal to lift the existing federal ban is on the table. The comments also come amid ongoing litigation against the Justice Department, which was recently due to respond in a federal case<\/a> concerning the legality of safe consumption sites that was brought about as a challenge to a Philadelphia-based nonprofit before that response deadline was extended.<\/p>\n New York City opened the\u00a0first sanctioned harm reduction centers<\/a>\u00a0late last year, and\u00a0officials have already reported positive results<\/a>\u00a0in saving lives. The facilities have yet to face a federal challenge like Philadelphia\u2019s Safehouse did under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n DOJ said in February that it is actively \u201cevaluating supervised consumption sites<\/a>, including discussions with state and local regulators about appropriate guardrails for such sites, as part of an overall approach to harm reduction and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Gupta previously said that it\u2019s critical to explore \u201cany and every option\u201d to reduce overdose deaths, and that\u00a0could include allowing safe consumption sites<\/a>\u00a0for illegal substances if the evidence supports their efficacy.<\/p>\n Congressional Committee Will Vote On Protecting State Marijuana Programs From Federal Interference On Tuesday<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post White House Drug Czar Recognizes Medical Value Of Marijuana And Says Biden Admin Remains Committed To Cannabis Reform<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The White House drug czar on Monday recognized the therapeutic potential of marijuana in pain treatment and said that the Biden administration has not strayed from its support for incremental reforms such as descheduling cannabis. He added that the president believes existing federal marijuana policies \u201chave not worked.\u201d He alsoContinue 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":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55479"}],"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=55479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55480,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55479\/revisions\/55480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: White House Drug Czar Recognizes Medical Value Of Marijuana And Says Biden Admin Remains Committed To Cannabis Reform<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"