The federal government should legalize recreational cannabis after its long history of prohibition and opposition. But that may change soon.
According to Reuters, the Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) has been following up on President Joe Biden’s call to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug.
The DEA has scheduled a hearing with an administrative law judge for the rescheduling of cannabis on December 2, 2024. Following the hearing, the administrative law judge will file a report on the given testimony. Then, the DEA will write its final ruling on the rescheduling of cannabis. It must take into consideration all the public considerations given to the DEA regarding this topic.
Unfortunately, there are other obstacles the DEA must overcome before the hearing on December 2, 2024. The U.S. House Appropriations Committee in Congress recently approved an amendment to restrict the DEA’s efforts to reschedule cannabis. U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced an amendment to counter the Committee’s original amendment. But it was unsuccessful.
Most cannabis legalization advocates in the community and industry want descheduling, which would actually make cannabis legal on the federal level. Rescheduling would not.
Cannabis Legalization Politics
Moreover, the results of the upcoming presidential election could either benefit or hurt the efforts to reschedule cannabis. While a Senator from California Vice President Kamala Harris (D) was an author of the MORE Act,. So she should be in favor of the rescheduling of cannabis. Harris is also more likely to take more steps in accomplishing this goal than the Biden Administration has.
As for former President Donald Trump (R), however, the direction for rescheduling drugs is more ambiguous. Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social recently favoring cannabis legalization in Florida and elsewhere.
However, many within the Republican Party are highly opposed to the rescheduling of cannabis. Who Trump appoints will determine if he makes an effort to legalize cannabis.
Regardless, outside of the House Appropriations Committee, everyone involved, many are making serious efforts to reschedule cannabis.
Cannabis Legalization Progress Made in New Jersey and Elsewhere
It has been over three years since Governor Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act. CREAMMA) Any adult who is at least 21 years old in New Jersey is allowed to use and possess cannabis legally. In addition, 24 states currently regulate the use and possession of cannabis, such as New York, Maine, and Massachusetts.
Despite this, many federally funded institutions, like Rutgers University, prohibit students from use or possession of cannabis. They do so because cannabis is still classified as a Schedule I drug. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), a Schedule I drug is defined as a highly dangerous and addictive substance or chemical that cannot be accepted for medical usage.
Over the last decade, more states began legalizing the use and possession of cannabis, even for recreational purposes. It is becoming clear that states across the U.S see the benefits of legalizing cannabis.
However, the federal government is very hesitant to make this change due to government propaganda against cannabis that dated more than a century ago and the false myths about what cannabis does to your body.
Long History of Marijuana Prohibition
To understand why cannabis should be legal at the federal level, we must go over the extensive history of propaganda against cannabis or marijuana.
Most people believe that cannabis became illegal following former President Richard Nixon’s (R) War against Drugs. But, prejudice against drugs like cannabis dates as far back as the early 1910s. America saw a shocking surplus of Mexican immigrants migrating to the U.S then.
According to Eric Schlosser, of The Atlantic, the criticisms against cannabis stem from Mexican migration over to the United States.
“The prejudices and fears that greeted these peasant immigrants also extended to their traditional means of intoxication: smoking marijuana,” Schlosser wrote. “Police officers in Texas claimed that marijuana incited violent crimes, aroused a “lust for blood,” and gave its users “superhuman strength.”
More than 20 years later, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Under the act, users of cannabis were subjected to penalties, and the hemp industry was subjected to tighter regulations and an increase in taxes. These came from the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBD) during the 1930s, Harry Anslinger. According to americanmarijuana.org, Andrew Mellon, Randolph Hearst, and the Du Pont family approached Anslinger to promote a law prohibiting the possession of cannabis. This group of people was heavily invested in different industries and saw cannabis as dangerous competition.
The Racist War on Drugs
Over time, however, the sentiment against cannabis became less strict, and people began to once again consume cannabis recreationally legally. That was until the mid-1970s, when President Nixon declared a “War on Drugs” and signed the Controlled Substance Act (CSA). Under the CSA, drugs became classified under five schedules based on medical application and potential abuse.
In order to enforce the CSA, Nixon increased funding for current drug control agencies, proposed mandatory prison sentencing related distribution, possession, or use of drugs, and founded his own drug control agencies like the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In 1994, however, President Nixon’s domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman, went on an interview to claim that the war on drugs was mainly to marginalize two groups of people at the time. Those who protested against the Vietnam War and black people.
“We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, 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,” Ehrlichman said.
Lying to the American People About Cannabis for 50 Years and Counting
During the 1970s, many myths about cannabis were fabricated that were later proven wrong through research. Like how cannabis causes brain damage, cannabis is a gateway drug, and cannabis causes psychosis. Research has proven that none of these facts are true. Many people still believe in these false myths due to the demonetization of cannabis over the last century.
No other substance has been scrutinized unfairly than cannabis. To label cannabis as a Schedule I drug while approving more dangerous drugs for medical use, like fentanyl and morphine, is completely ridiculous. Cannabis is nowhere near as dangerous as any of the other Schedule I or Schedule II drugs. However, because cannabis is still classified just as dangerous, many people are ill-informed about the true nature of cannabis.
