Pubdate: Wed, 19 Nov 2014
Source: Oakland Press, The (MI)
Copyright: 2014 The Oakland Press
Contact:  http://www.theoaklandpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2114
Author: Christopher Ingraham
Page: B5

JUSTICE, CONGRESS BEG TO REFORM MARIJUANA LAWS

Both Sides Look to Hand Off Responsibility

The Controlled Substances Act, which set up the drug schedules in the 
early 1970s, explicitly places drug scheduling authority in the hands 
of the attorney general, and even instructs him or her 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 crowning inconsistency of the federal drug control system has 
always been the classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance 
under federal law, which makes it among the Worst of the Worst drugs 
as far as the DEA is concerned - literally as bad as heroin, and 
worse than cocaine! Drug reform advocates have pushed the DEA to 
change its position for years, citing decades of research on the 
relative harmlessness of weed compared with other drugs - including 
alcohol -- but the agency hasn't budged, even as public opinion has 
rapidly evolved.

The Controlled Substances Act, which set up the drug schedules in the 
early 1970s, explicitly places drug scheduling authority in the hands 
of the attorney general, and even instructs him or her 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."

Much to the chagrin and outright befuddlement of drug law reformers, 
however, outgoing attorney general Eric Holder has repeatedly stated 
that any changes to the scheduling status of marijuana should be made 
by Congress.

In an interview with the just launched Marshall Project, a nonprofit 
news outfit covering criminal justice issues, he said, "I think the 
question of how these drugs get scheduled and how they are ultimately 
treated is something for Congress to work on." This echoes remarks he 
made in a September interview with Katie Couric, when he said that 
federal marijuana decriminalization was something for Congress to decide.

As Firedoglake's Jon Walker noted this week, it's strange that Holder 
is trying to punt this issue to Congress while the Obama 
administration is testing the limits of executive authority 
elsewhere: "It is just mind boggling that while the Obama 
administration is looking at ways to stretch their legal authority to 
use executive actions to get around Congress on issues, like the 
environment and immigration, they would still refuse to move forward 
on the one issue where they are so explicitly given the power to act 
under current law," Walker writes.

The DEA had no problem acting unilaterally to move hydrocodone 
products up from Schedule III to Schedule II earlier this year. It 
also added the previously unscheduled synthetic opiate tramadol to 
the drug schedule. So Holder's conspicuous deference to Congress on 
marijuana is puzzling.

Cautious politicians often espouse a "wait-and-see" approach on 
marijuana reform. But on the scheduling issue, Holder's going beyond 
wait-and-see and saying, essentially, that it isn't even his job. 
Even though the Controlled Substances Act states, explicitly, that it 
is his job!

The administration asking Congress to take up the issue is especially 
strange when you consider that earlier this year, a bipartisan group 
of congressmen asked the administration to literally do the same 
thing. In essence, the Justice Department and Congress are both 
begging each other to fix federal marijuana laws, but nobody's doing anything.

Welcome to Washington in 2014.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom