The DEA will decide whether to change the federal status of on marijuana by July

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The DEA will decide whether to change course on marijuana by July

In a lengthy memo to lawmakers, the Drug Enforcement Administration said it hopes to decide whether to change the federal status of marijuana "in the first half of 2016."

Marijuana is currently listed under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning that for the purposes of federal law, the drug has "no medical use and a high potential for abuse" and is one of "the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence." Marijuana shares Schedule 1 status with heroin, and it is more strictly regulated than the powerful prescription painkillers that have killed more than 165,000 people since 1999.

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It's hard to believe that the government holds cannabis in the same category as heroin. According to their own definition of no medical use, high potential for abuse and potentially severe psychological or physical dependence, and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision, alcohol should be included in this schedule.

Its placement in Schedule I of controlled substances was meant to be temporary until the Nixon Administration, which passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, could determine a more scientifically based determination of cannabis' classification.

In 1972, just two years after the Controlled Substances Act was passed, the Nixon Administration's National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse called for the decriminalization of cannabis. Needless to say, President Nixon refused to implement its recommendation.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 8 • Views: 2,230 • Replies: 12

@InfraBlue,

About time.

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It is hard to let go of all that drug enforcement money and power.

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@InfraBlue,

The CDC just told MDs not to ask their patients about pot use anymore. The DEA will find it easy to cut pot loose. There's too much coke, heroin and meth to deal with.

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DEA Rejects Attempt To Loosen Federal Restrictions On Marijuana

Quote:

The Obama administration has denied a bid by two Democratic governors to reconsider how it treats marijuana under federal drug control laws, keeping the drug for now, at least, in the most restrictive category for U.S. law enforcement purposes.

Drug Enforcement Administration chief Chuck Rosenberg says the decision is rooted in science. Rosenberg gave "enormous weight" to conclusions by the Food and Drug Administration that marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States," and by some measures, it remains highly vulnerable to abuse as the most commonly used illicit drug across the nation.

It seems that the FDA reached these conclusions about marijuana's medical use a long time ago and hasn't reevaluated its conclusions. In regard to recreational use, the medical use argument is irrelevant (cf. alcohol) and the DEA ignores the public's opinion that marijuana should be legalized. It seems that its legalization will continue to be advanced through state's rights approaches.

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@InfraBlue,

I am not a 'one issue voter' but the issue of drug regulation is an easily understandable one that I use as a barometer of whether a politician, party or platform is honest or reasonable. If they can't get this relatively simple issue right, they are not qualified to lead a government whethe federal, state or local.

Neither major party has even come close to sanity on this issue so I would never support either of their candidates for president.

As an aside, I have to laugh at the current hysteria in government about the danger of prescription drugs. There is a problem there as indicated by the number of people who have died but the problem is in their mental state, not the drug that many of them are using to kill themselves. Guns and drugs have that in common.

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@Leadfoot,

To be fair, the hysteria comes from the public. The government is merely responding to that. I think there is an over-prescription of these habit forming drugs and also there is an over-availability of guns in the nation. Physicians rather off-handedly prescribe these drugs and there should be more regulation in the way they're prescribed. In regard to guns, it would be a monumental task to reduce the number of guns that are currently available to the public, but something along those lines must occur to even begin to reduce the number of violent crimes committed with guns.

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@InfraBlue,

Where do you see this hysteria from the public? I see mainly pissed off people who have to jump through hoops and pay for unnecessary doctor's visits to get the pain relief they need. As someone who needs that relief I know whereof I speak. The same medication I go through needless BS to obtain is available off the shelf in other countries and they do not have nearly the 'drug problem' that the US does. Ask yourself: if the drug hysteria is from the people, why would they take them?

The fact that Americans put terrorism near the top of their concerns is proof that government propaganda is the genesis of that fear. Objectively, terrorism shouldn't even be on the list of concerns. Falling in the bathtub is a far bigger danger to them but nobody marked that one in the survey...

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@InfraBlue,

Hard to believe the DEA and FDA is really that stupid.

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@Leadfoot,

The hysteria over prescription drug abuse looks to have come from within the medical profession itself with a later governmental response according to this CNN article.

The public hysteria over prescription drug abuse comes from that part of the public that is negatively affected by prescription drug abuse.

I think the terrorism concern is driven by more by the media than the government.

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They make too much money off worthless drugs to let pot become legal.

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@InfraBlue,

First you said the medical profession is to blame for over prescribing and now you say they are the source of the hysteria about abusing them. My own doctor tell me that it is the FDA who is behind the hysteria.

I read the story you linked to. It was filled with contradictions. And it looks like the following from it is 'factually challenged'. It said:

Quote:

One out of every 550 patients started on opioid therapy died of opioid-related causes a median of 2.6 years after their first opioid prescription.

That sounded like bs from the get-go so I looked up the numbers.

In 2012 46,440,000 people were started on opioid pain relievers. According to that story 1 in 550 of them died. That would mean 84,436 people died from them. That is an utter lie.

Why does no one fact check the nonsense from government sources?

Also keep in mind that many of those who actually did die of overdose, did so intentionally. Again, drugs have this in common with guns.

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@ehBeth,

No it isn't.

They both form conclusions and then go looking for science and numbers to support their conclusions. Anything that doesn't does not matter.

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The DEA will decide whether to change the federal status of on marijuana by July

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