The Biden-Harris administration is making a desperate attempt to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana, just months before the election. This move is a clear example of politics trumping science and the rule of law. The administration is trying to placate its progressive base by bypassing established standards and ignoring the scientific evidence that marijuana has a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 requires that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classify drugs according to a five-tier scheduling system. Schedule I drugs, like marijuana, have no currently accepted medical use and present high potential for abuse and dependence. In contrast, drugs with accepted medical use are placed on less restrictive Schedules II through V.
Despite previous attempts to reschedule marijuana, the DEA has consistently concluded that the drug meets the criteria for Schedule I. The most recent attempt, led by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), ignored the established standards and conjured up new criteria to achieve the desired result. The DEA disagreed with the proposed change, but Attorney General Merrick Garland signed the final proposed rule, overriding the DEA’s objections.
The facts are clear: marijuana has a high potential for abuse, with one-third of people who use it in the past year meeting the criteria for addiction, and half of daily users becoming dependent on the drug. It also has wide-ranging negative effects on mental and physical health, including increased risks of psychosis, suicidal ideation, and hallucinations or paranoia. Furthermore, marijuana has no accepted medical use in the United States, despite some states allowing its use for medical purposes.
The Biden-Harris administration’s move to reschedule marijuana is not only a disregard for the rule of law but also a threat to the health and safety of the American people. By allowing the marijuana trade to deduct expenses as business expenses, taxpayers would be subsidizing the industry, and the government would be giving sanction to the cannabis industry’s campaign to downplay marijuana’s addictive potential and health risks.
This move is particularly concerning at a time when cartels and transnational criminal organizations are expanding their operation of marijuana cultivation and distribution inside the United States. The administration’s actions are a clear example of politics trumping science and the rule of law, and it is grossly irresponsible to facilitate the use of a gateway drug at a time when more than 100,000 Americans are dying of drug overdoses each year.
