President Joe Biden, 80, etched himself in cannabis lore today asking his Health and Human Service Secretary [HHS] Xavier Becerra to ask the Drug Enforcement Agency [DEA] to re-classify or downgrade cannabis from a Class 1.to a Class 3 drug. Biden’s decision to downgrade cannabis comes 27 years after California Prop 215 was signed into law Nov. 6, 1996 by former California Gov. Pete Wilson. Biden’s decision was long over due, something not done by his predecessors former Presidents Donald Trump or Barack Obama. If the DEA accepts the recommendations of HHS, marijuana will effectively become a far less regulated drug under current medical and recreational purposes. Under the current classification scheme, cannabis is prohibited from federal law of sales and distribution, despite states having their own laws fir regulating sales and distribution of marijuana.
Downgrading marijuana classification to from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 3 drug means that it the drug, according to the FDA scheme, comes “with moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence,” something controversial, since there are still questions of whether or not marijuana is a “gateway drug,” one that leads to other drug abuse or dependence. Downgrading the FDA’s scheduling doesn’t necessarily change federal banking rules regarding the sale and distribution of cannabis in the United States. Most states regulate marijuana, either permitting its medical or recreational use. Currently 38 states have medical or compassionate use laws with 23 states have recreational cannabis laws, making some form of marijuana use legalized in all U.S. states and territories. With the medical or recreational use communities, marijuana use still breeds controversy.
Changing the classification to a Schedule 3 drug doesn’t exempt states selling, cultivating or distributing marijuana either for medical or recreational use doesn’t change the federal banking laws, currently prohibiting cannabis sales. If the DEA moves to re-classify cannabis, it will have to coordinate with federal banking system, permitting marijuana, sales, cultivation and distribution in interstate commerce. Re-scheduling cannabis is long overdue but unless its sales, cultivation and sales are permitted under the federal banking system, it’s not going to grow the industry. Cash sales and business expenses, including salaries and benefits, must make use of the fedral banking system to have any legitimacy. But whether the FDA reschedules cannabis or not, it’s still considered a mind-altering substance like alcohol, a product that has legal consequences under state vehicle codes.
Biden asked Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland and HHS Secretary Becerra to review marijuana classification last year, finally coming up with a statement. “Following the data and science, HHS has expeditiously responded to President Biden’s directive to HHS Secretary Becerra and provided its scheduling recommendation for marijuana to the DA on Aug. 29, 2023,” read a Department of Justice memo. Asked about the statement in her daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the agencies engaged in a “independent process guided by evidence,” to ascertain any changes to scheduling marijuana. Whatever the DEA does, marijuana has mind-and-mood altering properties that affect thinking and reaction time related to a wide variety of motor and cognitive tasks. Rescheduling the drug only changes the legal consequences to marijuana use.
Looking to the DEA to rule on marijuana scheduling doesn’t solve the age-old question of whether or not marijuana leads to other more dangerous drug use or, more importantly, changes motivation and thinking necessary to complete important tasks in work and education. Most work supervisors or education experts would not recommend marijuana use to optimize performance in any area. Whether cannabis has medical benefits on any spectrum of symptoms like, anxiety, sleep, headaches, muscle and joint pain or anything else is a subjective matter, speaking volumes about how cannabis cannot, like other FDA approved drugs, target specific symptoms for any known benefit. Most experts don’t believe that alcohol has any reliable medical benefits and, in fact, point to long-term adverse effects from chronic use. With chronic marijuana use, there are known long-term adverse effects.
Biden’s generation grew up with government propaganda films like 1936 “Reefer Madness” showing marijuana associated with juvenile delinquency, crime, teen pregnancy, school dropouts, gangs and eventual prison. So, when it comes to Biden getting behind decriminalizing cannabis laws he takes advice from legal experts in Black community showing that the government, local, state and federal, incarcerated too many people of color in the government’s so-called “war on drugs.” If Biden gets cannabis downgraded in the federal drug register to Schedule 3, he will have done future generations a service in terms of legal consequences to marijuana use and sales. When it comes to the actual adverse affects of cannabis, there’s no doubt that marijuana advocates exaggerate the benefits and minimize the short and long-term health risks to chronic marijuana use.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
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