Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government is considering rescheduling cannabis out of the Schedule I classification, but only with the support of Congress.
In February 18 members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama urging him to reclassify cannabis. Comparing the schedule classifications, they pointed out that as it stands now, cannabis is listed as more dangerous than methamphetamines and cocaine, but the President himself stated he “[doesn’t] think it is more dangerous than alcohol,” a fully legal substance.
This call from Congress may have convinced the feds they were willing and able to move forward on reclassifying cannabis. So, for Holder to put the ball back in the court of Congress didn’t settle well for some representatives. As a result, this week two representatives have addressed Holder’s statement, one in Congress and the other directed at Holder himself.
During a House Judiciary Committee Holder was grilled by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn) as to why the feds have not used executive action to reclassify cannabis as they had on other issues.
Cohen stated he believes Congress will not act because they are like “tortoises” and wouldn’t stick their necks out. He asked Holder why he didn’t use Title 21, Chapter 13 to request a study by the Secretary of Scientific and Medical Evaluation to look into the classification of cannabis and change it, telling Holder “it has medical benefit and to be Schedule I says it has no medical benefit, well that’s just fallacious,” and that a wrongly placed Schedule I classification “breeds contempt for our laws.”
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