The White House says it\u2019s now up to the Justice Department to make a final decision on marijuana scheduling, adding that the top federal health agency\u2019s recommendation to reclassify cannabis was \u201cguided by the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the ever-growing federal-state cannabis policy disconnect and whether the administration intends to \u201cimprove safety regulations\u201d around marijuana products by supporting legalization.<\/p>\n
Rather than address the question directly, Jean-Pierre gave a brief overview of the cannabis scheduling review that President Joe Biden directed in October 2022.<\/p>\n
She pointed out that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has completed its part of the review and recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).<\/p>\n
That HHS review was \u201cindependent\u201d and \u201cguided by the evidence,\u201d the press secretary said. \u201cThe scheduling review is now with DOJ, and any input should be certainly directed to them at a time and in a manner they say is appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a matter, at this point\u2014now that HHS has has completed their review\u2014it\u2019s in the Department of Justice,\u201d she said. \u201cThey can speak to where we\u2019re marijuana rescheduling is at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhile DEA has not given a specific sense of timing for when it will complete and submit its cannabis review, there are heightened expectations that it will come before the November election\u2014both because of past precedent in scheduling matters and because the Biden administration has become increasingly vocal about its role in facilitating the review.<\/p>\n
Biden has continued to tout the marijuana scheduling directive and cannabis pardons he\u2019s issued, including in a presidential proclamation declaring April \u201cSecond Chance Month.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The president also discussed the marijuana actions in a\u00a0historic context last month, during his State of the Union address<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, separately urged DEA to finish its review and reschedule marijuana \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d<\/a>\u00a0while meeting pardon recipients for a roundtable event at the White House last month. Behind closed doors,\u00a0she also said \u201cwe need to legalize marijuana.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under HHS told congressional lawmakers last week that\u00a0there\u2019s \u201cno reason\u201d for DEA to \u201cdelay\u201d making a marijuana scheduling decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n A DEA official recently said\u00a0it sometimes takes up to six months for\u00a0DEA to complete its analysis of health officials\u2019 scheduling recommendations<\/a>\u2014which is just about how long it has now been since the agency began its current cannabis assessment.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, last month, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra defended his agency\u2019s rescheduling recommendation during a Senate committee hearing and also told cannabis lobbyist Don Murphy that he should\u00a0pay DEA a visit and \u201cknock on their door\u201d for answers about the timing<\/a>\u00a0of their decision.<\/p>\n Certain DEA officials are\u00a0reportedly resisting the Biden administration\u2019s rescheduling push<\/a>, disputing the HHS findings on marijuana\u2019s safety profile and medical potential, according to unnamed sources who spoke with The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n Marijuana Companies Ask Federal Court To Set Oral Arguments On DOJ Claim That Cannabis \u2018Tourism\u2019 Justifies Prohibition Enforcement<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post White House Says Marijuana Rescheduling Is Now Up To DOJ After Receiving HHS Recommendation \u2018Guided By The Evidence\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The White House says it\u2019s now up to the Justice Department to make a final decision on marijuana scheduling, adding that the top federal health agency\u2019s recommendation to reclassify cannabis was \u201cguided by the evidence.\u201d During a press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked aboutContinue 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\/74164"}],"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=74164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74165,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74164\/revisions\/74165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: White House Says Marijuana Rescheduling Is Now Up To DOJ After Receiving HHS Recommendation \u2018Guided By The Evidence\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"