The DEA Is Getting Dragged 'Kicking and Screaming' Into the New World of Marijuana [View all]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/36943-the-dea-is-getting-dragged-kicking-and-screaming-into-the-new-world-of-marijuana

The advocacy community has suggested that DEA’s statement that they would decide on the Gregoire-Chaffee rescheduling petition this summer is a sign that they are moving toward reforming policy with regard to marijuana,” Hudak told Business Insider, referring to a 2011 petition from Govs. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Christine Gregoire of Washington state.

“The reality is that DEA’s statement offers no such signal,” Hudak said. “The petition has been before the US government for about five years, and DEA has an obligation to rule with the regard to a basic question: Is cannabis properly scheduled?”

The DEA has reviewed marijuana’s classification in the past, deciding in 2001 and 2006 to keep the drug at Schedule 1 — putting it ahead of drugs like cocaine, meth, oxycodone, and anabolic steroids, all of which are on Schedule II or III (though legal penalties related to those drugs differ).

“I would be surprised if DEA recommended rescheduling,” Hudak said.

Statements from the DEA’s acting chief would seem to back up Hudak’s impression.

“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not,” acting DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg said in November 2015.

“We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don’t call it medicine — that is a joke.”

Rosenberg and the DEA seem wedded to this position despite pushback by scientists and changing public opinion.