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The secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says he\u2019s aware that there\u2019s significant public interest in the timeline for the administrative review of marijuana scheduling\u2014but there are \u201ca few hoops we need to jump through\u201d before completing that assessment.<\/p>\n
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra took to Twitter on Wednesday to share a media clip of his interview about cannabis<\/a> with KDKA-TV that aired earlier in the week, assuring followers, \u201cI see the comments and I know a lot of you are asking about the status of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI hear you, and just know that we are trying to work quickly but still have a few hoops we need to jump through,\u201d he said. \u201cAs always, the science will guide this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n I see the comments and I know a lot of you are asking about the status of marijuana I hear you, and just know that we are trying to work quickly but still have a few hoops we need to jump through. As always, the science will guide this decision. More from what I told @KDKA<\/a>: pic.twitter.com\/By9EwdrKJu<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Secretary Xavier Becerra (@SecBecerra) March 22, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n During the interview that Becerra promoted, the secretary declined to commit to completing the cannabis scheduling review by the unofficial cannabis holiday 4\/20\u2014but he did say that the process will take into account shifts in what the drug \u201cmeans\u201d to Americans over the last several decades.<\/p>\n Many advocates and industry stakeholders have raised questions about how long it will take the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under HHS to complete its part of the review process. Several Biden administration officials have used the word \u201cexpeditiously,\u201d but they\u2019ve declined to provide a specific timeline.<\/p>\n Asked in the interview whether HHS would make its decision by April 20, Becerra laughed and said simply, \u201cI know we\u2019re going to try to move quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got to go through a number of hoops and, again, safety and efficacy are what will drive this determination, so stay tuned,\u201d the secretary, who has been known to\u00a0play into the symbolism of 420 on Twitter<\/a>, said.<\/p>\n As he\u2019s done before, Becerra emphasized that the department\u2019s review will be based on \u201cscience\u201d and \u201csafety for Americans.\u201d But he also notably\u00a0added\u00a0that the assessment will take into account \u201cwhether or not we can show that there has been a change since the early 1990s in what cannabis means to America.\u201d<\/p>\n Marijuana Moment reached out to an HHS official for clarification on how public opinion and state legalization efforts factor into the department\u2019s review, but a representative was not immediately available.<\/p>\n Stay tuned, @LegalizeItBruh<\/a>! A local TV station asked the Secretary about de-scheduling recently and we\u2019re planning to post what he said soon.<\/p>\n \u2014 Kamara Jones (Acting ASPA) (@HHS_Spox) March 22, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n For what it\u2019s worth, there weren\u2019t any states where marijuana was legal for any purposes until 1996, and now there are 37 states with medical cannabis programs and 21 where it\u2019s also legal for adult use.<\/p>\n Also, polling shows that support for ending cannabis prohibition altogether hovered around 20-30 percent in the early 1990s, whereas now\u00a0almost seven in ten Americans back full legalization<\/a>.<\/p>\n As the secretary said in\u00a0a letter to the Congressional Cannabis Caucus<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month, the final decision on marijuana scheduling is left to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).<\/p>\n The official\u2019s letter echoed a key point that FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock made in October, shortly after President Joe Biden issued the directive, as well as a mass pardon for people who\u2019ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses.<\/p>\n That is, FDA under HHS will conduct the review\u2014and the findings from that review are \u201cbinding,\u201d but only insofar as the science is concerned. Because scheduling decisions are covered by the Controlled Substances Act, however, DEA makes the final call. And DEA could ultimately decide to keep marijuana is Schedule I.<\/p>\n FDA\u2019s Woodcock\u00a0similarly said that DEA \u201chas the final word\u201d<\/a>\u00a0on any potential scheduling decision following their review.<\/p>\n More than a dozen bipartisan congressional lawmakers sent a letter Becerra and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland this month,\u00a0demanding transparency in the cannabis scheduling review<\/a>.<\/p>\n The letter said that Biden\u2019s scheduling directive represents \u201can opportunity to make honest assessment of the origins and implications of federal policy,\u201d adding that \u201cmarijuana was scheduled based on stigma not science,\u201d and it\u2019s \u201ctime to address marijuana\u2019s existing reality as a state-regulated substance.\u201d<\/p>\n Separately, Garland said at a Senate hearing this month that\u00a0DOJ is \u201cstill working on a marijuana policy\u201d<\/a>\u00a0while awaiting the results of the scientific review from health agencies.<\/p>\n Washington House Panel Approves Senate-Passed Bill To Allow Interstate Cannabis Commerce<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Top Federal Health Official Says Marijuana Scheduling Review Still Needs To Go Through \u2018A Few Hoops\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says he\u2019s aware that there\u2019s significant public interest in the timeline for the administrative review of marijuana scheduling\u2014but there are \u201ca few hoops we need to jump through\u201d before completing that assessment. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra took toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":62963,"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\/62962"}],"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=62962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62964,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62962\/revisions\/62964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Top Federal Health Official Says Marijuana Scheduling Review Still Needs To Go Through \u2018A Few Hoops\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"