Pubdate: Thu, 10 Apr 2014
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

CLASSIFIED TALK

Ngaio Breaks Down How the Federal Government Could Reschedule 
Marijuana Without Going to Congress

Can the Department of Justice reschedule marijuana, or do you need an 
act of Congress?

- -Medical Mary

According to the Controlled Substances Act, the U.S. Attorney General 
has the power to "remove any drug or other substance from the 
schedules if he finds that the drug or other substance does not meet 
the requirements for inclusion in any schedule."

The Drug Enforcement Administration has marijuana classified as a 
Schedule I drug, and according to them, "Schedule I drugs are the 
most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially 
severe psychological or physical dependence." Classifying weed as a 
Schedule I drug is hogwash. We all know that marijuana has been used 
as a medicine for hundreds of years. We also know that marijuana is 
less addictive than alcohol, nicotine or caffeine. There is no reason 
for marijuana to be classified in the same category as heroin, 
methaqualone (or quaalude, for all the old-timers out there), LSD, 
MDMA (Ecstasy) and peyote. I would even make an argument for MDMA and 
peyote being removed from the schedule as well, but that's a 
discussion for a different column.

Using the DEA's own definition, it's clear that marijuana doesn't 
belong in the Schedule I class and should be rescheduled or even 
removed from the drug list completely. And if Attorney General Eric 
Holder has the power to do it, why hasn't he done it already?

There are a few reasons. Changing marijuana's status on the drug 
schedule would not make weed legal. There are far too many federal 
and state laws that explicitly ban cannabis. Removing weed from the 
drug schedule wouldn't change those laws. It would also open up a 
political shitstorm. All the drug prohibitionists will start with the 
wailing and the screaming and the gnashing of teeth, and why would 
Eric "Fast and Furious" Holder want to go through that?

So, why should Holder make the bold move of rescheduling marijuana? 
Because science.

Right now, it is virtually impossible for American scientists to do 
any research on the medicinal uses of cannabis. Every time someone 
proposes a study, the DEA argues against it. And even when scientists 
manage to get an experiment approved, they have to talk the National 
Institute on Drug Abuse into giving them cannabis to use for the 
experiment, since the NIDA is the only agency authorized to grow 
cannabis for research. The NIDA hates marijuana, and it grows 
terrible weed. It also hardly ever lets anyone do cannabis research, 
unless the research is an attempt to show how harmful marijuana is. 
It's a big ol' loop of governmental BS.

But who knows what may happen? Recently, Holder has let it be known 
that he is willing to talk to Congress about rescheduling pot. This 
comes on the heels of several congressmen from Colorado and 
Washington asking for the DOJ to take a fresh look at marijuana's 
status in the drug schedule. I still feel like the Obama 
administration will take even more steps toward legalizing weed by 
the end of 2016, but to make sure it happens, we have to keep the 
pressure on our politicians to wake up and do the right thing.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom