DEA Once Again Refuses to Reschedule Marijuana, But Does Offer One Policy Change

The DEA on Thursdayagain refused to reschedule marijuana, arguing that its therapeutic value has not been scientifically proven. The move rejecting a rescheduling petition from two governors comes despite medical marijuana being legal in half the states and in the face of an ever-increasing mountain of evidence of marijuanas medicinal utility.

DEA has denied two petitions to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the agency said in a press release. In response to the petitions, DEA requested a scientific and medical evaluation and scheduling recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which was conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in consultation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Based on the legal standards in the CSA, marijuana remains a schedule I controlled substance because it does not meet the criteria for currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse.

Todays action marks at least the fourth time the DEA has rejected petitions seeking to reschedule marijuana. The effort to get the DEA to move marijuana off the same schedule as heroin has been going on since 1972, and once again has garnered the same result.

The move comes despite the expansion of state medical marijuana lawsat least three more states will vote on it this yearand a growing clamor for change, including from members of Congress. Just yesterday, the National Conference of State Legislatures adopted a resolution calling on the federal government to move marijuana off Schedule I.

The agency did announce one policy change that could make it easier to conduct marijuana research. It said it would end the University of Mississippis monopoly on the production of marijuana for research purposes by granting growing licenses to a limited number of other universities.

But that was not nearly enough for marijuana reform advocates, who scorched the agency for its continuing refusal to move the drug off of Schedule I, if not outside the purview of the Controlled Substances Act altogether.

This decision is further evidence that the DEA doesnt get it. Keeping marijuana at Schedule I continues an outdated, failed approach leaving patients and marijuana businesses trapped between state and federal laws, said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR).

The DEAs refusal to remove marijuana from Schedule I is, quite frankly, mind-boggling. It is intellectually dishonest and completely indefensible. Not everyone agrees marijuana should be legal, but few will deny that it is less harmful than alcohol and many prescription drugs. It is less toxic, less addictive, and less damaging to the body, said Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project.

We are pleased the DEA is finally going to end NIDAs monopoly on the cultivation of marijuana for research purposes. For decades it has been preventing researchers from exploring the medical benefits of marijuana. It has also stood in the way of any scientific inquiries that might contradict the DEAs exaggerated claims about the potential harms of marijuana or raise questions about its classification under Schedule I, Tvert continued.

The DEAs announcement is a little sweet but mostly bitter. Praising them for it would be like rewarding a student who failed an exam and agreed to cheat less on the next one. Removing barriers to research is a step forward, but the decision does not go nearly far enough. Marijuana should be completely removed from the CSA drug schedules and regulated similarly to alcohol, he concluded.

For far too long, federal regulations have made clinical investigations involving cannabis needlessly onerous and have placed unnecessary and arbitrary restrictions on marijuana that do not exist for other controlled substances, including some other schedule I controlled substances, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML.

While this announcement is a significant step toward better facilitating and expanding clinical investigations into cannabis therapeutic efficacy,ample scientific evidence already existsto remove cannabis from its schedule I classification and to acknowledge its relative safety compared to other scheduled substances, like opioids, and unscheduled substances, such as alcohol, he continued. Ultimately, the federal governmentought to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act altogetherin a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco, thus providing states the power to establish their own ...