“This milestone reflects the reality that advocates have been engaged in a multi-decade long struggle to compel the federal government to acknowledge the obvious: that cannabis possesses therapeutic benefits. It also highlights the fact that the federal government’s ongoing refusal to do so has been strictly a political decision.”
Cannabis must be descheduled by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act altogether.
The HHS recommendation now goes to DEA, which possesses the final authority to schedule or reschedule a drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration has rejected a pair of administrative petitions that sought to initiate rulemaking proceedings to reschedule marijuana under federal law.
The DEA announced that they will amend their quotas for 2017 regarding the cultivation of research-grade marijuana and hemp legalization bills in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island have been signed into law! We also have updates from Illinois, Florida, and Ohio. Click here to learn the latest in marijuana law reform news from around the country and to find out how you can #TakeAction!
Federal lawmakers pressured President Obama this week to take executive action to reform marijuana policy. Meanwhile, state legislative reforms are still moving forward throughout the country. Click here to get the latest news and to learn what you can do to take action.
While it remains unknown at present time if the DEA will respond favorably to this current rescheduling effort, it has become apparent in recent years that reclassifying cannabis from schedule I to schedule II – the same category as cocaine – falls well short of the sort of federal reform necessary to reflect America’s emerging reefer reality.
Vermont Senator and Democrat Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders yesterday pledged to get the federal government out of the marijuana enforcement business by removing the substance from the US Controlled Substances Act.