Three Republican senators are urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reject the top federal health agency\u2019s marijuana rescheduling recommendation, arguing that it would put the U.S. out of compliance with international treaty obligations and make it harder to ensure that other countries continue to enforce drug laws, \u201cincluding for deadly narcotics like fentanyl.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a letter sent to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram on Wednesday, Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), James Risch (R-ID) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) said the agency should adhere to precedent and decline to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has advised.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny effort to reschedule marijuana must be based on proven facts and scientific evidence\u2014not the favored policy of a particular administration\u2014and account for our treaty obligations,\u201d the Senate Foreign Relations Committee members wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarijuana is controlled under the Single Convention\u2014which is not surprising given its known dangers and health risks\u2014and the United Nation\u2019s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has fiercely criticized efforts to legalize marijuana in other countries as a violation of the treaty,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
The letter notes that the Senate ratified the Single Convention that contains drug policy mandates for member states in an unanimous vote in 1967. And they pointed out that DEA has previously cited international treaty obligations in denying past rescheduling petitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important that the DEA continues to follow the law and abide by our treaty commitments,\u201d they said, listing a series of questions they\u2019re asking the agency to answer.<\/p>\n
\nTo be blunt: rescheduling marijuana may cause the U.S. to violate obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Efforts to reschedule marijuana must be based on evidence, not politics, and @DEAhq<\/a> must ensure we abide by our treaty commitments. https:\/\/t.co\/uwWcgontPE<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) March 27, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
For example, the senators asked if DEA still considers it necessary to keep marijuana in either Schedule I or Schedule II to comply with the Single Convention, as it concluded under the Obama administration.<\/p>\n
They also want to know if DEA has consulted with the State Department \u201cregarding marijuana and any diplomatic implications of a rescheduling decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHas the DEA consulted with key counterdrug partner nations about our shared obligations under the Single Convention and their views regarding a potential rescheduling by the United States?\u201d they asked<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat impact would a potential failure by the United States to uphold its treaty obligations have on our ability to ensure other countries continue to enforce their own drug controls under the Single Convention\u2014including for deadly narcotics like fentanyl?\u201d the senators wrote.<\/p>\n
Kevin Sabet, president of the prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), said the organization is \u201cgrateful for Senator Romney\u2019s leadership on this critical issue of public health and safety for all Americans<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is well documented that reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug would violate our international treaty obligations,\u201d he said. \u201cThe points made by Senator Romney must be seriously considered by the DEA and DOJ before any decision on rescheduling is finalized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters and opponents of rescheduling marijuana have made competing arguments about the influence of international treaty obligations in the final decision that DEA is expected to hand down.<\/p>\n
For example, a Democratic congresswoman recently implored DEA to\u00a0\u201creject any argument\u201d that rescheduling marijuana under federal law would constitute a violation<\/a>\u00a0of international treaty obligations. She also asked the agency to reveal a list of any \u201coutside partners\u201d it has met with to discuss the global implications of a potential cannabis reclassification.<\/p>\n
Legal experts recently released an opinion that disputes that assessment. In fact, they argued that\u00a0a\u00a0move to Schedule III would\u00a0better<\/em>\u00a0uphold the country\u2019s broader obligations under international law<\/a>\u00a0to regulate cannabis in a way that protects public health and safety.<\/p>\n
Another lawmaker who\u2019s raised concerns about treaty obligations is Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who addressed the issue in a separate letter sent to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram<\/a>\u00a0late last month, claiming that any reclassification that puts marijuana outside of Schedule I or Schedule II \u201cwould constitute a violation of the Single Convention,\u201d referring to the 1961 United Nations (UN) Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.<\/p>\n
But as\u00a0a coalition of 12 senators pointed out in a separate letter<\/a>\u00a0to Milgram a week earlier, the UN has since revised global cannabis scheduling policies and allowed other member states, such as Canada, to legalize and regulate marijuana without penalty. Those lawmakers urged DEA to legalize marijuana completely.<\/p>\n
The UN\u2019s INCB did recently reiterate that it considers legalizing marijuana for non-medical or non-scientific purposes a violation<\/a> of international treaties.<\/p>\n
Read the senators\u2019 letter<\/a> to DEA\u2019s Milgram on marijuana rescheduling and international treaties below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\nWhere Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Stands On Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
The post GOP Senators Tell DEA To Reject Marijuana Rescheduling, Arguing It Would Violate International Treaties<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\nRead More: GOP Senators Tell DEA To Reject Marijuana Rescheduling, Arguing It Would Violate International Treaties<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three Republican senators are urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reject the top federal health agency\u2019s marijuana rescheduling recommendation, arguing that it would put the U.S. out of compliance with international treaty obligations and make it harder to ensure that other countries continue to enforce drug laws, \u201cincluding forContinue 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\/73546"}],"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=73546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73547,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73546\/revisions\/73547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}