The White House drug czar says the Biden administration\u2019s move to reschedule marijuana will have \u201chistoric and long-lasting impact\u201d that could also make banks more willing to work with state-licensed cannabis businesses via \u201clegitimate interstate commerce.\u201d But for the second time in the past week, he seemed to overstate what the reform would accomplish\u2014this time by suggesting it would address the \u201cracial disparity\u201d in cannabis enforcement.<\/p>\n
Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), weighed in on the proposal to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in an interview with the Star Tribune that was published on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a policy for over half a century where so many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. We\u2019ve had so many people arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know white, Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, but Black and brown incarceration rates are higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gupta said rescheduling is \u201cgoing to be really important to remove barriers to critical research and perhaps drug development, and it could also lead to more research into the benefits of medical marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, while he said<\/a> that \u201cthis decision is going to have a historic and long-lasting impact,\u201d he also made several additional comments about the move that appeared to inflate the effects of the reform.<\/p>\n \u201cIt happens that Schedule III drugs are a much, much lower priority in that way\u2013Tylenol with codeine and testosterone are in Schedule III,\u201d the official said. \u201cIt will have an impact on racial disparity, incarceration and prosecutions. And whether in Massachusetts or West Virginia or Texas, Americans should be able to get treatment for their condition.\u201d<\/p>\n A Schedule III reclassification would not federally legalize marijuana, and since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the plant as a medicine that could be prescribed, the threat of criminal prosecution would remain in force for any cannabis-related activity. Gupta similarly oversimplified the idea of marijuana\u2019s potential availability as a prescription drug<\/a> in another recent interview.<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing about the potential rescheduling action that would specifically address racial disparities in criminal enforcement. Penalties for certain marijuana-related activities would be reduced\u2014and the policy change could theoretically signal to prosecutors that cannabis offenses are an even lower priority\u2014but it would not change the law in a way that would inherently affect the rate of prosecutions overall.<\/p>\n Asked about how a transition to Schedule III could impact the willingness of banks to work with state-licensed marijuana businesses, Gupta said that \u201cwe do know the drugs that are Schedule III are in legitimate interstate commerce within the federal system.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, however, he\u2019s referring to FDA-approved drugs that can be prescribed by a health professional. FDA typically does not approve botanical substances as prescription drugs; instead, it has so far only approved synthetic THC and CBD-based medications for the treatment of certain conditions.<\/p>\n A report published by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) earlier this month also clarified that further action from FDA would be needed\u00a0before marijuana products become available<\/a> by prescription.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll leave it to others to talk about the commercial process,\u201d the drug czar said. \u201cThe focus for the president has been making sure Americans are able to get the help they need no matter where they live, and on the other side making sure we\u2019re not [harming] people.\u201d<\/p>\n Gupta was also asked about the possibility of a future administration reversing the rescheduling decision. He started by saying that Biden \u201chas given the opportunity to Congress to take action\u201d and did so \u201cbecause he could wait no longer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe independent reviews of these agencies followed established processes and procedures in getting to this result. That process is driven through science,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t provide any hypothetical answers to what may happen. This is a change that is driven by policy, by science, by data, regardless of the political process.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRescheduling is a process that will continue to go on for the remainder of the year,\u201d he said. \u201cThe historic nature of the actions we\u2019re taking cannot be minimized.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe country\u2019s drug policy overall has caused too many lives to be lost and others to be impacted negatively. The president has been very consistent: No one should be in jail for using or possessing marijuana. These steps to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III is a policy that is consistent with science in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n A former drug czar who served under President Barack Obama recently took a sharply different position on marijuana rescheduling than Gupta. Former ONDCP Director\u00a0Gil Kerlikowske recently said that cannabis is \u201cnot medicine\u201d and that rescheduling was \u201call Big Cannabis.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t people my age that are just old hippies that want to open up a pot shop somewhere\u201d Kerlikowske said on the podcast of former U.S. Rep. Mary Bono (R). \u201cThis is a huge business like Big Tobacco. Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the proposed rule to federally reschedule marijuana was officially posted last week, kicking off a\u00a0public comment period that\u2019s expected to elicit a major response<\/a>\u00a0from supporters and opponents of cannabis reform.<\/p>\n Marijuana reform advocates and stakeholders have made clear that they intend to leverage the opportunity, with some planning to support the reclassification while others intend to call for descheduling cannabis altogether. Prohibitionists are expected to oppose the incremental policy change and seek to keep marijuana in Schedule I, and there\u2019s also a looming threat of litigation.<\/p>\n While DOJ will take all public comments submitted by July 22 into consideration as it weighs the reform, it said in the notice that one of the topics its especially interested in hearing about is\u00a0the \u201cunique economic impacts\u201d of the rescheduling proposal<\/a>\u00a0given that state-level legalization has created a \u201cmultibillion dollar industry\u201d that stands to benefit from possible federal tax relief under the reform.<\/p>\n On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and colleagues have\u00a0reintroduced legislation to federally legalize cannabis<\/a>\u00a0and impose certain regulations. The bill\u2019s prospects are dubious in the current divided Congress, however.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the top Democrat in the U.S. House said that the Biden administration\u2019s move to reschedule marijuana is a \u201cstep in the right direction,\u201d but it should be\u00a0followed up with congressional action such as passing the legalization bill<\/a>\u00a0Schumer filed.<\/p>\n In a recent interview with Fox News, former\u00a0DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said it \u201cabsolutely looks like\u201d the agency will follow through<\/a>\u00a0with moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the CSA.<\/p>\n Biden has separately issued two rounds of mass pardons for people who\u2019ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses. Again, a Schedule III reclassification would not legalize cannabis or free people still incarcerated over cannabis.<\/p>\n During his run for the presidency,\u00a0Biden pledged to move cannabis to Schedule II<\/a>\u2014a stricter category compared to what\u2019s been proposed by his administration.<\/p>\n Trump Pledges To Free Silk Road Drug Market Operator Russ Ulbricht, Despite Calling For Execution Of Drug Sellers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Biden Drug Czar Says Marijuana Rescheduling Will Have \u2018Historic Impact,\u2019 But Overstates Effects On \u2018Racial Disparity\u2019 In Criminalization<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The White House drug czar says the Biden administration\u2019s move to reschedule marijuana will have \u201chistoric and long-lasting impact\u201d that could also make banks more willing to work with state-licensed cannabis businesses via \u201clegitimate interstate commerce.\u201d But for the second time in the past week, he seemed to overstate whatContinue 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\/75687"}],"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=75687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75688,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75687\/revisions\/75688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Biden Drug Czar Says Marijuana Rescheduling Will Have \u2018Historic Impact,\u2019 But Overstates Effects On \u2018Racial Disparity\u2019 In Criminalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"