cannabisnews.com: Obama Should Reschedule Marijuana Now
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Obama Should Reschedule Marijuana Now
Posted by CN Staff on December 24, 2016 at 08:06:01 PT
By Chris Weigant
Source: Huffington Post
Washington, D.C. -- President Obama made some news the other day with another slew of pardons and commutations, adding to his record number as president. Obama has pardoned more people than all presidents back to Truman combined, which is both notable and commendable. Many of these pardons came for Draconian sentences handed out during the worst years of the War On Drugs, when people were routinely sentenced to long prison terms not so much for possessing cocaine but rather for possessing the wrong type of cocaine (when there was a 100-to-1 disparity between crack and powdered cocaine in federal sentencing laws). Obama is doing what he can for the cause of criminal justice reform, but there’s one more thing he really should do before he leaves office reschedule marijuana so that it is not considered more dangerous than methamphetamine and opium. Contrary to his statements in the past, he can achieve this by directing his attorney general to sign a piece of paper congressional approval is not required at all. So in the midst of correcting some abuses of the Drug War with last-minute pardons, Obama should take this proactive step to change the federal War On Weed as part of his presidential legacy.
Of course, what one president does can be undone by another president. Donald Trump could just as easily direct his attorney general to change the law back. Politically, though, this will be tough to justify, which is one reason why Obama should act before he leaves office. The classification of marijuana has always been more political than scientific, after all. John Ehrlichman, a top aide to Richard Nixon (who was president when the drug schedules were created), even admitted this, in a remarkably candid statement:You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black people, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.Barack Obama, a president who both won the Nobel Peace Prize and is black, could change Nixon’s nakedly political classification before he leaves office. That would be truly ironic.Of course, the real answer to federal legal reform on marijuana is to completely declassify it move it off the schedules entirely, and hand enforcement and regulation over to the same bureau that deals with alcohol and tobacco. That’s the sensible end of the road, but that isn’t realistic to hope for before Obama leaves office. At the very least, though, Obama could reschedule marijuana to a lesser level, to reflect the new reality at the state level.Here are the classification criteria (from the text of the law) for all five of these schedules, for reference:(1) Schedule I. (A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse. (B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. (C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.(2) Schedule II. (A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse. (B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions. (C) Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.(3) Schedule III. (A) The drug or other substance has a potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in schedules I and II. (B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. (C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.(4) Schedule IV. (A) The drug or other substance has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule III. (B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. (C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to limited physical dependence or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule III.(5) Schedule V. (A) The drug or other substance has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule IV. (B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. (C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to limited physical dependence or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule IV.Marijuana is currently Schedule I, which is just not supported by the facts. Schedule II drugs deemed less dangerous than marijuana includes such substances as cocaine, opium, amphetamine (Dexedrine), methamphetamine, and PCP. Is marijuana more dangerous than any of them? No, it is not. There is not a shred of scientific evidence which would even suggest such a thing. The classification is nothing more than a hangover from Nixon’s “enemies list,” in fact, which no president since has seen fit to reverse.Over half of the United States have now legalized medical marijuana. That is, both de facto and de jure, “currently accepted medical use in treatment.” Period. A clear majority consensus exists when over half the states allow for legal medical marijuana. So how can anyone argue that marijuana deserves to be classified higher than Schedule II? It is an indefensible position, at this point.Barack Obama got elected promising (among other things) that science would dictate his policies, rather than politics. He has had a mixed record on this front, which is why he could dramatically improve his legacy by rescheduling marijuana on his way out the door. Scientifically, it’s hard to justify classifying marijuana higher than Schedule III and a good case could be made for either Schedule IV or Schedule V.The Drug Enforcement Agency was taken to court over this issue, and they were forced to publicly consider recommending rescheduling marijuana. Earlier this year, they chose not to. They are the frontline drug warriors, so it’s not that hard to understand their position. But the D.E.A. doesn’t actually have the final word on the issue. The attorney general does.Obama’s Justice Department has a somewhat mixed record on waging the War On Weed, although this improved as time went on (especially in his second term). But the incoming attorney general is going to be Jeff Sessions, who previously joked that he didn’t think badly of the KKK until he discovered that some of them smoked pot. That’s the man who will be in charge, next year.Obama has nothing to lose by rescheduling marijuana in his final days. If Sessions just reschedules it back, then we would be left with the status quo anyway. But Obama should force Sessions to actively do so, insuring that such a move will be scrutinized very publicly (as opposed to leaving it as it is, which will get zero media attention). The scheduling decision has always been a political one, but the stance that Nixon took back in the 1970s is not going to be as easy to defend in the political arena of 2017. Times have changed, in other words. At the very least, Obama will spur a very public conversation over the issue of how the federal government sees marijuana even if Sessions does act and just moves marijuana back to Schedule I. That discussion, in and of itself, should be valuable enough to spur Obama to act.President Obama’s time in the Oval Office is limited. As he considers what he can do before he leaves, I would strongly urge him to take a very scientific look at the federal classification of marijuana. The position that it has no medical value is now nothing more than laughable fiction. It is indefensible on the face of it. Obama can change this and he really should before leaving office. He promised, when campaigning, to let science dictate policy rather than politics. Rescheduling marijuana on his way out would help fulfill this promise and add to his presidential legacy.Source: Huffington Post (NY)Author: Chris WeigantPublished: December 21, 2016Copyright: 2016 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/MmKIqc17CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by HempWorld on December 27, 2016 at 18:04:30 PT
Ha, ha
Ok, because this post has been up for so long, 2nd gloovins...Rest in peace!Peace, Love, Prosperity, Abundance!The Grateful Dead, indeed!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by gloovins on December 26, 2016 at 11:42:04 PT
Puppetry
Ha - Obama will never instruct his AG to reschedule. He gets great publicity for his pardons and commuting sentences, are you kidding me? See, he is a puppet of the shadow government, the one that calls all the shots. If he rescheduled or had his AG reschedule, the US government's whole wall of prohibition goes crumbling. They can no longer arrest you on a federal level for possession or sales. No way, the US federal government is addicted to cannabis and schedule 1. They love it! It's there so the shadow government and the prohibitionists don't lose control of their grip of prohibition. Obama is pretty much an arrogant, impotent puppet in my humble opinion. Oh yeah and Trump? It's like that Who lyric: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...."
On another note, Joy to the World!....it's Dec 26th!
Time for a dispensary run....;) Jesus would have approved I know it! :)
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #7 posted by FoM on December 26, 2016 at 05:27:41 PT
Had Enough
Merry Christmas! I hope you had a wonderful day!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #6 posted by Had Enough on December 25, 2016 at 20:03:36 PT
To All...
Merry Christmas...
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by The GCW on December 25, 2016 at 13:47:26 PT
People in positions of trust bought & sold Us out
US: Drug Industry Hired Dozens Of Officials From The DEAhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n718/a05.html?397"The number of employees recruited from that division points to a deliberate strategy by the pharmaceutical industry to hire people who are the biggest headaches for them," More...Pubdate: Thu, 22 Dec 2016
Source: Washington Post (DC)-0-Then, the ignoids come around and blame hard drug addiction rates on God's plant cannabis.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by Hope on December 25, 2016 at 09:28:16 PT
Peace on Earth
Good will toward humans.And more good will, love, forgiveness, and grace between humans would be a grand gift, too. Especially to those who have a type of neuropathy of the heart. Let them feel love and good will toward their fellow man.May there be more Grace and Mercy, abounding, out here on this suspended, spinning rock we call Earth.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by MSimon on December 25, 2016 at 09:25:43 PT:
He Owes Big Pharma
Debts to Big Pharma is why Hillary said, "It needs more study." And why Schedule 2 was as low as she would go.Obama works for the same people. I expect nothing from him.You know who I expect action from? Trump. I'm not going to write at length. Just two names. Newt Gingrich. Peter Thiel. And Newt was at one time an ardent Prohibitionist.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 24, 2016 at 14:47:59 PT
TroutMask
I agree!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #1 posted by TroutMask on December 24, 2016 at 08:41:54 PT
While you're at it...
While you're at it, you might as well confirm the Supreme Court nominee. Just sayin'!
[ Post Comment ]
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