The head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says that the Biden administration is committed to supporting evidence-based policies for marijuana as it works to complete a review of federal cannabis scheduling that was directed by the president.<\/p>\n
That science-focused approach also applies to policy decisions on other drugs, he said.<\/p>\n
At an event on overdose prevention on Friday, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra was asked about broad drug decriminalization efforts. And while he said that it isn\u2019t within the department\u2019s \u201cjurisdiction\u201d to make policy decisions like that, the government won\u2019t be using \u201c20th century modalities and ways of thinking to drive what we do if we have evidence that tells us we go a different direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would not be the ones who would be proposing [decriminalization], but we certainly would weigh in on any issue involving decriminalization of any controlled substance,\u201d he said before specifically addressing President Joe Biden\u2019s marijuana scheduling directive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to take a look at what science tells us and what the evidence tells us,\u201d Becerra, who has a considerable record supporting cannabis reform<\/a> as a congressman and as California\u2019s attorney general, said. \u201cThat will guide what we do\u2014and we hope that will guide what the federal government does.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch the discussion on marijuana and broader drug policy, starting around 27:40 into the video below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Following the president\u2019s cannabis pardons and scheduling announcement in October, the secretary said that the department would \u201cwork as quickly as we can\u201d<\/a> to carry out the scientific review. And he\u2019s already discussed the issue<\/a> with the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to that end.<\/p>\n More broadly on drug policy, the official said on Friday that, \u201cat the end of the day, we should all be about keeping people alive and letting those people thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt HHS, we took a turn with our new strategies on drug overdose and drug use, because we think at the end of the day, each one of our loved ones deserves a chance to, as I said, stay alive and thrive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Becerra was joined at Friday\u2019s event by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who also responded to the drug policy question.<\/p>\n The senator said that she\u2019s \u201clong supported decriminalization of marijuana,\u201d going back to her time as a state lawmaker in Wisconsin. Her support is based on \u201ca number of different reasons, including the ramifications when use and possession is criminalized,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a federal official now in the U.S. Senate, I am observing the fact that there is a lack of coordination as you have state after state that are reexamining their laws through referenda or through action in the state legislatures\u2014that we have a conflict between federal law and state law,\u201d Baldwin, who has cosponsored several marijuana reform bills over her tenure, including banking and legalization proposals, said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, with respect to the president\u2019s scheduling directive, the White House drug czar said recently that that the action was \u201chistoric,\u201d<\/a> adding that there are \u201cclearly\u201d medical benefits of cannabis.<\/p>\n Like HHS, DOJ has similarly committed to quickly carrying out the separate scheduling review<\/a>\u00a0the president directed, which could result in a recommendation to place cannabis in a lower schedule or remove it altogether, effectively legalizing the plant under federal law.<\/p>\n Separately, Biden recently cheered a move by Oregon\u2019s governor<\/a> to grant tens of thousands of marijuana pardons\u00a0this week, which followed his own federal clemency action last month. And he says other states should \u201cfollow Oregon\u2019s example.\u201d<\/p>\n A White House spokesperson also told Marijuana Moment last month that the president intends to sign a bipartisan marijuana research bill<\/a> that was recently passed by Congress.<\/p>\n A series of polls have shown that Americans\u00a0strongly support the president\u2019s pardon action<\/a>, and they also don\u2019t think that marijuana should be federally classified as a Schedule I drug.<\/p>\n DOJ Has Concerns About Marijuana Banking Bill, Newly Surfaced Memo Reveals, But Sources Say They\u2019ve Been Resolved<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Biden\u2019s Health Secretary Gives Update On Marijuana Scheduling Review Directed By The President<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says that the Biden administration is committed to supporting evidence-based policies for marijuana as it works to complete a review of federal cannabis scheduling that was directed by the president. That science-focused approach also applies to policy decisionsContinue 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\/58867"}],"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=58867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58868,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58867\/revisions\/58868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Biden\u2019s Health Secretary Gives Update On Marijuana Scheduling Review Directed By The President<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"