Summary/Abstract

The Drug Enforcement Administration denies petitions to reschedue Marijuana  in spite of wasted dollars appropriated to marijuana directed law enforcement

Content

Editors Note: Addiction has been declared as a chronic brain disorder by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and thus a healthcare  rather than a criminal justice problem and yet funding for treatment and prevention is equivalent to the funding allocated to law enforcement and interdiction. An old saying using politically correct inclusive language - "first the person takes the drink, then the drink takes the drink and then the drink takes the person". This is a simplified version of the progressive nature of the addictive process. It has always been this way and most likely will always be this way. The difference is that today drug enforcement, drug treatment and the prison industrial complex have evolved into golden cash cows over the past thirty years profiting from draconian, non science based  policies and fueled by antiquated morality and public and governmental apathy. There is no incentive economically to alter policy from supply reduction to demand reduction. 

"You can't fix stupid' states the comedian Ron White . The DEA should receive a Darwin Award this year for its published rationale for keeping Marijuana a Schedule I Drug. "Based on the legal standards in the CSA, marijuana remains a schedule I controlled substance because it does not meet the criteria for currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse." See chart below of twenty five states and DC that disagree with the DEA. Meanwhile we have had an unprecedented opioid addiction epidemic claiming lives at a rate comparable with the mortality rates of major wars. In medicine, there is a word for a process know as triage which means "the assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illnesses to decide the order of treatment of a large number of patients or casualties." Then it would perhaps follow that this methodolgy would be used in our failed drug war. Not the case. One would think that if the supply reduction ideology informed the law enforcement policies and practices, then efforts for enforcement and interdiction would be directed at the drugs that poise the greatest threat to life. This is not the case as illustrated in the table below which documents 44.9% of drug arrests are for marijuana that happens to be a drug that is legal in some medical or recreational form in twenty five states and DC and that does not have a mortality statistic associated with its use.

I suspect that the DEA who, like congress in their recent buprenorphine ruling,  know far more than members of the medical community on what constitutes therapeutic efficacy and safety and are actually busy preserving a criminal justice and treatment industry that employs tens of thousands and produces billions in revenues. After all, were marijuana to be removed from the Schedule I category and decriminalized, many agents would become unemployed. 

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DEA Announces Actions Related to Marijuana and Industrial Hemp

AUG 11 (WASHINGTON) - The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced several marijuana- related actions, including actions regarding scientific research and scheduling of marijuana, as well as principles on the cultivation of industrial hemp under the Agricultural Act of 2014.

DEA Publishes Responses to Two Pending Petitions to Reschedule Marijuana 
DEA has denied two petitions to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). In response to the petitions, DEA requested a scientific and medical evaluation and scheduling recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which was conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in consultation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Based on the legal standards in the CSA, marijuana remains a schedule I controlled substance because it does not meet the criteria for currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse.

In his letter to the petitioners, DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg offered a detailed response outlining the factual and legal basis for the denial of the petitions.

The full responses to the petitions can be found in the Federal Register. Response 1 ANDResponse 2 

The DEA and the FDA continue to believe that scientifically valid and well-controlled clinical trials conducted under investigational new drug (IND) applications are the most appropriate way to conduct research on the medicinal uses of marijuana. Furthermore, DEA and FDA believe that the drug approval process is the most appropriate way to assess whether a product derived from marijuana or its constituents is safe and effective and has an accepted medical use. This pathway allows the FDA the important ability to determine whether a product meets the FDA criteria for safety and effectiveness for approval.  

Increasing the Number of Authorized Marijuana Manufacturers Supplying Researchers

DEA announced a policy change designed to foster research by expanding the number of DEA- registered marijuana manufacturers. This change should provide researchers with a more varied and robust supply of marijuana. At present, there is only one entity authorized to produce marijuana to supply researchers in the United States: the University of Mississippi, operating under a contract with NIDA. Consistent with the CSA and U.S. treaty obligations, DEA’s new policy will allow additional entities to apply to become registered with DEA so that they may grow and distribute marijuana for FDA-authorized research purposes.

This change illustrates DEA’s commitment to working together with the FDA and NIDA to facilitate research concerning marijuana and its components. DEA currently has 350 individuals registered to conduct research on marijuana and its components. Notably, DEA has approved 
every application for registration submitted by researchers seeking to use NIDA-supplied marijuana to conduct research that HHS determined to be scientifically meritorious.

Statement of Principles Concerning Industrial Hemp and the Agricultural Act of 2014

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in consultation with DEA and the FDA, also released a statement of principles concerning provisions of the Agricultural Act of 2014 relating to the cultivation of industrial hemp. Industrial hemp is a low-concentration THC variety of the cannabis plant intended to be used for industrial purposes (e.g., fiber and seed). This statement of principles is intended to inform the public, including institutions of higher education and State departments of agriculture, how Federal law applies to activities associated with industrial hemp that is grown and cultivated in accordance with Section 7606 of the Agricultural Act of 2014.

This statement of principles outlines the legalized growing and cultivating of industrial hemp for research purposes under certain conditions, such as in states where growth and cultivation are legal under state law. The 2014 Act did not remove industrial hemp from the list of controlled substances and, with certain limited exceptions, the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the CSA continue to apply to industrial hemp-related activities. The statement of principles addresses questions including the extent to which private parties may grow industrial hemp as part of an agricultural pilot program, the circumstances under which the sale of hemp products is permitted, and other related topics.

1.  Because of rounding, the percentages and numbers may not add to 100.0.

2.  Total Aggregate derived from percentages * FBI 2014 UCR Table 29 aggregate

Source: http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881

 August 11, 2016
Contact: DEA Public Affairs
(202) 307-7977