The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will not reschedule marijuana. The 186-page decision was published Thursday in the Federal Register. The DEA also put hemp growers on notice .
Following the decision, The Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham wrote: “The FDA cannot determine it has a medical use in part because of the highly restrictive legal status of the drug. It’s a classic bureaucratic Catch-22.” Ingraham also collected responses from members of Congress.
Federal law will continue to view cannabis as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has high potential for abuse and no recognized medical value. Other Schedule I drugs include heroin, LSD and ecstasy (MDMA).
Some in cannabis circles expected the agency to reclassify the plant as a Schedule II drug, the next most restrictive classification under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule II drugs include cocaine, methamphetamine and several prescription opioids. (See a more complete list here.)
Cannabis activists and businesses generally want to see marijuana de-scheduled and regulated like alcohol. Rescheduling, which still could happen in the future, raises problematic questions for the pro-cannabis community about regulations governing businesses and access to MED. One lawyer called the prospect of rescheduling a “ nightmare” for the industry. My reporting suggested that the changes wouldn’t be as drastic.
NPR quotes DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg saying that he gave “enormous weight” to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) view that marijuana has “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States”
“This decision isn’t based on danger. This decision is based on whether marijuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine,” Rosenberg said, “and it’s not.”
The DEA says it will, however, expand the number of facilities allowed to grow marijuana for research. For a long time, a facility at the University of Mississippi has grown all of the marijuana ordered by the federal government. Scientists who want to study MED will still need to obtain permission from the federal government.
I spoke to Hilary Bricken, a cannabis business attorney at Seattle firm Harris Moure, about the decision. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity:WW: This is what you predicted. What do you think were ultimately the main factors in the decision?
“It’s based on whether marijuana as determined by the FDA is a safe and effective medicine, and
it’s not.” And that allegedly this is based on science, which is interesting because there’s a
significant lack thereof. Only recently have scientific research barriers been removed by the feds.
Additional reactions:
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, (D-Ore.):
“This decision doesn’t go far enough and is further evidence that the DEA doesn’t get it. Keeping marijuana at Schedule I continues an outdated, failed approach—leaving patients and marijuana businesses trapped between state and federal laws. …It’s not enough to remove some barriers to medical research. Marijuana shouldn’t be listed as Schedule I; it shouldn’t be listed at all.”
“President Obama always said he would let science — and not ideology — dictate policy, but in this case his administration is upholding a failed drug war approach instead of looking at real, existing evidence that marijuana has medical value…A clear and growing majority of American voters support legalizing marijuana outright and the very least our representatives should do is let states implement their own policies, unencumbered by an outdated ‘Reefer Madness’ mentality that some in law enforcement still choose to cling to.”
Kevin Sabet, CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an anti-legalization group:
This is not on surprising at all to scientists and people who follow this issue. What we’ve seen in the last couple of years is actually the science pointing in the direction of marijuana being more harmful, not less harmful…It’s also a huge blow to medical marijuana companies who were ready to press send on marketing emails touting a decision to reschedule and pushing their goods on to people who might now think that the feds totally gave up on the issue.
If voters approve it in November, the pending ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Arizona stands to eliminate several felony arrests each day in the city of Phoenix alone.
On average, the Phoenix police have arrested more than seven people a day since January 2015 for suspicion of marijuana possession, according to figures New Times obtained through a public-records request.
Dear Stoner: I saw your profile on Durban Poison and the pure effects of landrace strains. Are there any others to look out for? I like to know what to expect when I smoke.
Taylor
Dear Taylor: Landrace strains like Durban Poison come from pure genetics, but they don’t have pure effects. That means that while Durban Poison is a pure sativa (if the genetics are legitimate), not everyone feels the same type of high after ingesting it — though the highs are generally similar. But that’s how it works for all strains.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has denied petitions filed by two former governors and a New Mexico psychiatric nurse practitioner five years ago requesting that the DEA reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I substance, according to documents filed with the Federal Register today. But the agency did decide to end the monopoly on research into the medical benefits of the drug — a move applauded by the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
There is no word yet on when the DEA might consider rescheduling marijuana. But despite an earlier promise by the agency to make an announcement in the first half of 2016, sources now say that the agency has decided to hold off on any decision for this year, as Westword reported last week.
While the DEA made no move on rescheduling, it did announce that it will be expanding the number of places allowed to grow marijuana for research purposes. Currently, the University of Mississippi holds an exclusive contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and has been the only facility federally licensed to grow marijuana.
The case was an anomaly in the legal state.
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Federal prosecutors agreed to drop charges against Devontre Thomas, a 19-year who faced prosecution for being caught with a very small amount of weed at a federally run boarding school for Native Americans in Oregon.
A Massachusetts court ruled that smoking MED violated a man’s probation.
Two men face criminal charges connected with the failed attempt to open a cannabis resort on a reservation in South Dakota.
Following a robbery at a Portland dispensary, police said Oregon pot shops are not attracting a disproportionate amount of crime .
The DEA’s criteria for whether a home contains a grow operation are very broad.
The New York Times reports on Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s unapologetically brutal war on drugs.
In Connecticut, schoolchildren will used seized grow lights to produce food.
The Kind investigates the judging of High Times Cannabis Cups, and speaks to Max Montrose, a connoisseur and critic of the high stakes process.
Vice learns about life as a “ trim bitch” on an illegal weed farm. The money is good, but conditions aren’t and sexual harassment is a problem.
Rapper Snoop Dogg is the executive producer of the new MTV weed comedy “Mary + Jane.”
Recently retired NFL player Eugene Monroe has a new column at The Cannabist.
Frankie Schnarrs, owner of Frankie’s Sports Pub in Olympia, Wash. said he’ll continue to allow patrons to use cannabis despite a recent fine and suspended liquor license, which he’s also ignoring. “I want them to take my license from me. They can go to Hell,” he told a reporter. “Get out of here. Get off my property.”
The Guardian hangs out with three elderly British women in Amsterdam, while they try pot for the first time. They enjoyed themselves at a playground, swinging on the swings.
Artist Tony Greenhand is well paid to roll joints that resemble guns, animals and other elaborate shapes.
Leafly looks back at jazz great Louis Armstrong’s long fondness for cannabis, which he called “the gage.”
Butane extraction has reached the U.K.
Douglas County residents can no longer legally grow 99 marijuana plants in each household. The Douglas County Board of Commissioners voted on Tuesday, August 9, to reduce that number to twelve.
The new ordinance regulates the growth, cultivation and processing of marijuana in private residences, echoing ordinances passed in the City of Denver in late 2013 and the City of Boulder earlier this year.
In Europe, they drink much more than they smoke cannabis.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
U.S. teens are more likely to smoke pot than to binge drink according to a new study. A government study says Miamians are more anti-weed than residents of any other U.S. city, a finding at odds with a visit to Miami.
Vice says legalizing can mitigate problems associated with synthetic cannabis.
LAWeekly talks to Dr. Francis D’Ambrosio, an orthopedic surgeon turned pot activist. “Is the medicine working?” he asked a patient. “Well, then it’d be criminal of me not to renew your prescription.”
The long awaited PTSD study for veterans is recruiting volunteers.
A New York doctor is accused of trading a prescription for the powerful opioid Suboxone for a few grams of pot.
Police in Baton Rouge, La., have reduced their enforcement of narcotics offenses since Alton Sterling was fatally shot on July 5.
Marco Vasquez, police chief of Erie, Colo., spoke in favor of legalization at a national law enforcement conference.
Forbes explains how a Congressional career offender provision got Tennessee grower Paul Fields sentenced to 15 years. It was Fields’ third offense. For the second one, he was sentenced to 100 days.
Hundreds of doctors in Georgia have registered to recommend low-THC, high-CBD cannabis oil but there’s no official directory. Word of mouth is the only way to find one of the doctors.
Bruce Schulte, former chair of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board, was fired by Gov. Bill Walker (Ind.). Schulte said the state is trying to “subvert” the industry.
Portland City Council appears ready to undo some of the restrictions governing dispensary operations. Humboldt County, Calif. growers are divided on a proposed excise tax.
Money from marijuana is helping keep Pueblo’s budget out of the red, but in November that green could dry up.
Pueblo City Council determined that residents be allowed to decide whether to stop licensing recreational marijuana stores in a 6 to 1 vote on Monday, August 8. Initially, recreational pot shops were only legal outside of Pueblo city limits, but voters decided to to allow retail shops to operate in Pueblo a year ago.
Note left by Kentucky deputies after confiscating marijuana plants from corn field.
After confiscating about 254 marijuana plants found nestled in a corn field last week, deputies in Grayson County, Kentucky, left the growers a note: Thanks for the weed!
In addition to thanking the still-unknown culprits for the nearly $600,000 worth of marijuana, deputies began to taunt the growers on social media with the hashtag #WeGotYoWeed.
The stigma is shrinking and the money is growing.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
Private equity investment in weed is heating up. Canadian MED company Organigram raised $17.5M. Denver’s Baker Technologies, a software company which helps dispensaries win and retain customers, raised $1.6M. The industry’s average seed round is $1M according to investment firm Poseidon Asset Management.
Commodities investor Jim Rogers, who started Quantum Fund with George Soros, has invested in PharmaCielo, a Canadian company that won the first license to grow MED in Colombia.
CMH Brands, a company which processes Willie Nelson brand Willie’s Reserve, acquired Denver Relief’s grow and manufacturing facilities. The deal comes weeks after Denver Relief sold a store to Terrapin Station.
The Clinic’s new flagship store in Denver cost more than $1M. A JPMorgan analyst thinks Scotts Miracle-Gro’s push into the industry will benefit the stock. Bloomberg BusinessWeek interviewed Dixie CEO Tripp Keber.
Fast Company looks at what it’s like to work for social media app MassRoots.
San Jose, Calif., dispensary Medimarts promised a court fight against a ruling that it owes $767,000 in taxes and late fees.
787 drivers were involved in Colorado’s 546 driving fatalities last year. Of the drivers, 59, or 7.1% tested positive for cannabis but not other drugs. The total number of fatalities was down from 606 in 2005.
Researchers found that a Vermont Department of Health study was overly negative and did not account for the possibility of legalization alleviating the state’s opioid crisis. This year the state legislature failed to pass a REC bill that was widely expected to become law.
In the Des Moines Register, the founder of an addiction center writes that pot is still dangerous. “We see the faces of marijuana addicts first hand. And it’s not funny. We see people who struggle with simple tasks at school and work. People incapable of perceiving or expressing emotion. People who suffer from higher incidence of mental health diagnoses, such as schizophrenia, paranoia and anxiety.”