Cohen Urges Attorney General Holder to Take Marijuana Off of Schedule I

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a member of the House Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of its Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, this morning pressed United States Attorney General Eric Holder on the Administration’s reluctance to change the federal government’s classification of marijuana and reminded him of his statutory authority to remove the drug from “Schedule I” of the Controlled Substances Act. If a drug is listed under Schedule I, it means that the federal government recognizes no medical use, but the listing can be changed by the Attorney General in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Including marijuana in Schedule I disregards both medical evidence and the laws of nearly half of the states that have legalized it for medical purposes. Video of the Congressman questioning Attorney General Holder is available here.

“When marijuana was placed on Schedule I, it was supposed to be temporary until the science was in,” said Congressman Cohen.“That was 1970. The science has been in for a long time, and keeping marijuana on Schedule I—with heroin and LSD—is ludicrous. Not simply because African Americans are 4 times more likely than Caucasians to be arrested for possession, although that is a travesty, but also because the science tells us it’s wrong. Time and again, this Administration has acted within its authority to address injustice and fix problems, whether immigration, protecting our environment, or raising the minimum wage for federal contractors. The Attorney General can and should act to better reflect the science, the medical research, and the opinions of the American people when it comes to the federal classification of marijuana.”

When the Controlled Substances Act first became law in 1970, Assistant Secretary of Health Roger Egeberg recommended that marijuana be placed on Schedule I temporarily until the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (known as the Shafer Commission) reported its findings on the drug. The Commission’s 1972 report recommended decriminalizing marijuana possession, though that recommendation was never acted upon. Earlier this year, the Shafer Commission’s Assistant Director Richard Bonnie said:“Frankly, I am astonished that criminal penalties continue to be prescribed and imposed for simple possession of marijuana. It is long past time to repeal them.”

Congressman Cohen has brought his concerns regarding the misguided and outdated federal marijuana enforcement priorities to the attention of senior Administration officials several times this year. In February, he joined a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in sending a letter to President Obama encouraging the reclassification of Marijuana.

“You said that you don’t believe marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol: a fully legalized substance, and believe it to be less dangerous ‘in terms of its impact on the individual consumer,’” reads the letter sent to the President. “This is true. Marijuana, however, remains listed in the federal Controlled Substances Act at Schedule I, the strictest classification, along with heroin and LSD. This is a higher listing than cocaine and methamphetamine, Schedule II substances that you gave as examples of harder drugs. This makes no sense.”

In March, he questioned Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Deputy Administrator Thomas Harrigan at a House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations hearing. While being questioned by the Congressman, Deputy Administrator Harrigan stated that “every single parent” opposes marijuana and that the drug, which is now legal for medical or personal use in nearly half of the United States, “insults our common values” but when pressed failed to provide backup for either claim. Video of the Congressman’s questioning at the March hearing is available here.

“When it comes to marijuana, the DEA is out of touch with reality,” said Congressman Cohen. “They haven’t kept up with the science, they haven’t kept up with the medical community, and they sure haven’t kept up with the American people. When a law is almost universally perceived as wrong, it breeds disrespect for the system. Americans young and old think federal marijuana policy is a joke. They know that marijuana isn’t as dangerous as harder drugs, and they don’t support taking one’s liberty away because of marijuana. There is a cultural lag in this country, and it is past time to fix it.”

Congressman Cohen has also highlighted the racial biases inherent in the genesis and development of today’s marijuana policies. In a hearing earlier this year, the Congressman brought up racially-charged statements by President Richard Nixon, including “every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish,” as well as several of the former President’s top advisors regarding the development and propagation of the War on Drugs, which led to marijuana being classified as Schedule I by the federal government.

“The groundwork for today’s marijuana policy was laid 80 years ago by leaders who feared Hispanic immigrants, but the War on Drugs started by President Nixon has even more sinister roots,” said Congressman Cohen. “He believed that the problem with drugs was ‘really the blacks’ and played up racially-based fear to garner votes even though his administration knew they were lying about marijuana’s health effects.”

Congressman Cohen raised similar concerns about our nation’s marijuana policy with Michael Botticelli, Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Deputy Director Botticelli’s vague and disappointing responses at the hearing led the Congressman to introduce H.R. 4046, the Unmuzzle the Drug Czar Act, to remove restrictions that require the ONDCP, commonly known as the “Drug Czar,” to oppose changing the legal status of marijuana and prevent it from even studying whether there could be any medical benefits.

“Not only is the ONDCP the only federal office required by law to oppose changing the legal status of marijuana even if it is proven to have medical benefits, but it is also prohibited from studying if that could be even be true,” the Congressman said when introducing the legislation. “The ONDCP’s job should be to develop and recommend sane drug control policies, not be handcuffed or muzzled from telling the American people the truth. How can we trust what the Drug Czar says if the law already preordains its position? My bill would give the ONDCP the freedom to use science—not ideology—in its recommendations and give the American people a reason to trust what they are told.”