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A GOP congressman says President Donald Trump doesn\u2019t have the authority to unilaterally reschedule marijuana via executive order. But while lawmakers could overrule any administrative move to enact the reform, it would be a \u201cheavy lift\u201d in the Republican-controlled Congress, he acknowledged.<\/p>\n
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)\u2014a staunch prohibitionist who recently helped secure provisions in a spending bill Trump signed that would effectively recriminalize hemp\u2014shared his views about the marijuana rescheduling proposal and limitations of a Schedule III reclassification under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) on Tuesday during a webinar organized by the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Harris adamantly opposes the potential rescheduling action, arguing that it would further normalize marijuana use and do little to expand research opportunities to examine the plant\u2019s health benefits or risks. And he said the president was mistaken when he said on Monday that reclassification is necessary to conduct the research.<\/p>\n The congressman also argued that Trump is \u201ctechnically\u201d wrong if he\u2019s under the impression he can move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III with a stroke of the pen on an executive order. Rescheduling wouldn\u2019t legalize marijuana, but it\u2019d be a historically symbolic recognition that cannabis holds medical value, while enabling marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions available to other industries.<\/p>\n \u201cHe can tell any agencies to make every effort\u201d by executive order Harris acknowledged, \u201cbut I\u2019m not sure that it\u2019s legal for the president to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cObviously the executive branch can do it without congressional input. We could always override it, but that would be a heavy lift,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Harris also touted the fact that he\u2019s \u201cled the charge against recreational marijuana in the District of Columbia for over 10 years,\u201d primarily by ensuring the continuing annual renewal of an appropriations rider barring Washington, D.C. from using its tax dollars to legalize marijuana sales, despite voters approving legalization over a decade ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe that it\u2019s a safe drug to have out there,\u201d he said, adding that the process of getting a medical marijuana recommendation that permits access at the state level is a \u201cscam\u201d and \u201cwe don\u2019t really need to reschedule it.\u201d<\/p>\n While the president said a Schedule III reclassification would bolster research into cannabis, Harris said he\u2019s worked across the aisle with Democrats such as former Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a key champion of legalization, to address the study barriers issue through separate legislation they passed and which was signed into law by President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n Blumenauer \u201cthinks that if you do all the research, you\u2019re going to show all these great things marijuana does medically,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI think, if you do the research, you\u2019ll find out there\u2019s very little that marijuana is actually a first-line or even a second-line drug.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo use doing research as an excuse to go from schedule one to schedule three is just not fair. It\u2019s not accurate. You can do all the research you want on Schedule I,\u201d he said. However, that\u2019s not strictly true, as researchers interested in studying Schedule I drug must obtain Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) approval to use or import those substances and follow other more stringent reporting requirements that even the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has described as excessively burdensome.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to join arms in this and say, rescheduling \u2018is just not right\u2019 and \u2018not a good decision for the health of America,’\u201d Harris said<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s the bottom line. I think there is no evidence that it\u2019s good, and there\u2019s plenty of evidence now that chronic use of marijuana\u2014especially in teenage years, especially before the brain is fully formed\u2014is probably just a bad idea, and encouraging in any way, shape or form, such as reducing the scheduling, just has no basis in science or medical fact.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping that there is some pushback from within the administration by calmer, cooler heads saying, \u2018time out\u2014let\u2019s think this through very carefully. Let\u2019s get the experts in from the administration.\u2019 And I don\u2019t mean the marijuana industry, because we know their famous meetings with the president, with people who make a lot of money in that industry. I mean the scientists like [NIDA Director Nora Volkow] to sit down and to talk some sense into the people who would otherwise consider this.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, another GOP congressman said on Monday that Trump would be \u201cwrong\u201d to move forward with the plan to reschedule marijuana<\/a>, which he described as a \u201cgateway drug\u201d that leads to the use of \u201charder substances\u201d\u2014despite numerous studies contradicting that theory.<\/p>\n Though speculation about an imminent action has been swirling this month, it remains to be seen whether Trump will ultimately fulfill his campaign promise to move cannabis to Schedule III. He endorsed the reform\u2014as well as industry banking access and a Florida adult-use legalization initiative\u2014on the campaign trail last year. But he\u2019s since been largely silent on the issue since taking office during his second term, unless prompted by reporters.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, multiple top congressional Democrats are\u00a0making the case that the modest reform would not go far enough<\/a>\u2014including Sen. Ron Wyden (R-OR) who said the move is only an attempt by the president to \u201cgaslight\u201d voters into thinking he legalized cannabis to boost his \u201cpathetic\u201d approval ratings.<\/p>\n A major drug testing industry organization separately said it\u2019s\u00a0\u201csounding the alarm\u201d amid the reports Trump may soon finalize the rescheduling proposal<\/a>, arguing that the policy change would \u201chave catastrophic consequences for the safety of the United States workforce and transportation sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Cannabis industry stakeholders are holding out hope that the reform will be achieved as soon as possible, but opponents\u2014including NDASA and Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM)\u2014are working to dissuade the administration before a final decision is made<\/a>.<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, a White House spokesperson told Marijuana Moment last week that no actions have been finalized so far.<\/p>\n Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have been\u00a0weighing in on the potential rescheduling decision over the past week<\/a>\u2014with Democrats like Rep. Alex Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) calling the reform a \u201cno-brainer\u201d and others like Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) pushing back against the proposal.<\/p>\n The Washington Post reported last week that Trump was planning to issue an executive order directing federal agencies to move ahead with cannabis rescheduling.<\/p>\n The outlet also said the president met earlier this week in the Oval Office with marijuana industry executives, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz. During that meeting, Trump phoned Johnson, the House speaker, who expressed his opposition to rescheduling cannabis,<\/p>\n If the administration does ultimately enact rescheduling, it would mark one of the most significant developments in federal marijuana policy since its prohibition a half a century ago, with a Schedule III reclassification recognizing that marijuana has medical value and a lower abuse potential compared to other Schedule I drugs like heroin.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post GOP Congressman Says Trump \u2018Technically\u2019 Can\u2019t Reschedule Marijuana On His Own, But Reversing It In Congress Would Be A \u2018Heavy Lift\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A GOP congressman says President Donald Trump doesn\u2019t have the authority to unilaterally reschedule marijuana via executive order. But while lawmakers could overrule any administrative move to enact the reform, it would be a \u201cheavy lift\u201d in the Republican-controlled Congress, he acknowledged. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)\u2014a staunch prohibitionist who recentlyContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":84836,"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\/84835"}],"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=84835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84837,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84835\/revisions\/84837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: GOP Congressman Says Trump \u2018Technically\u2019 Can\u2019t Reschedule Marijuana On His Own, But Reversing It In Congress Would Be A \u2018Heavy Lift\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"