The head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says his agency has “communicated” the agency’s “position” on marijuana rescheduling to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and has continued to offer additional information to assist with the final determination. HHS for the first time confirmed that it had recommended moving cannabis from […]| Marijuana Moment
Rescheduling marijuana could set the country back “another 50 years” on the path to federal legalization, a Democratic lawmaker who leads the Congressional Cannabis Caucus says. At a National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) summit in Sacramento on Thursday, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) told Marijuana Moment that she’s “opposed” to moving marijuana from Schedule I to […]| Marijuana Moment
The Biden administration is being pressed to reschedule marijuana by two coalitions representing military veterans and law enforcement—including a group that counts Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram among its members. In a pair of recent letters sent to DEA and President Joe Biden, Law Enforcement Leaders To Reduce Crime & Incarceration (LEL) and […]| Marijuana Moment
A key House committee has approved a bipartisan bill on Wednesday that would prevent the denial of federal employment or security clearances based on a candidate’s past marijuana use. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee passed the Cannabis Users’ Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act—sponsored by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Earl Blumenauer […]| Marijuana Moment
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a highly redacted version of a brief letter to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regarding the agency’s marijuana rescheduling recommendation. The letter, obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Law360 reporter Sam Reisman, confirmed certain previously reported details such […]| Marijuana Moment
A top House Democrat has reintroduced a bill to federally legalize, tax and regulate marijuana, with provisions to expunge prior cannabis convictions. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, refiled the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act on Wednesday. There are 33 initial cosponsors—all Democrats. The comprehensive legalization legislation has […]| Marijuana Moment
Republican senators, including the lead GOP sponsor of a bipartisan marijuana banking bill, will soon be introducing new legislation to prevent marijuana from being federally legalized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) without congressional approval. The yet-to-be-released bill is being led by Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Steve Daines (R-MT), who is also sponsoring […]| Marijuana Moment
The governors of six U.S. states—Colorado, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Louisiana—sent a letter to President Joe Biden (D) on Tuesday urging the administration to reschedule marijuana to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act by the end of this year. The move, they say, will provide economic and tax benefits for cannabis […]| Marijuana Moment
More than three months after news leaked that the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) was recommending that marijuana be moved to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the agency has finally released a tranche of documents related to its recommendation and the detailed review it undertook on cannabis’s accepted medical […]| Marijuana Moment
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is telling lawmakers that it reserves “the final authority” to make any scheduling decision on marijuana following an ongoing review, regardless of what the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends. In a letter sent to Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), DEA Acting Chief of […]| Marijuana Moment
A coalition of 31 bipartisan House lawmakers has sent a letter to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), urging the agency to take into account congressional and state marijuana legalization efforts as it carries out a review into cannabis scheduling. They also criticized the limitations of simple rescheduling as they push for complete […]| Marijuana Moment
A coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general is urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to move forward with federal marijuana rescheduling, calling the policy change a “public safety imperative.” In a letter led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) that was sent to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram on Friday, the top state law […]| Marijuana Moment
As the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) weighs a marijuana rescheduling recommendation from health officials, congressional researchers are laying out the limitations of the policy change— emphasizing that state cannabis markets would continue to run afoul of federal law, and existing criminal penalties for certain marijuana-related activity would remain in force. In a report published on […]| Marijuana Moment
Six former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) heads and five former White House drug czars have sent a letter to the attorney general and current DEA administrator, voicing opposition to the top federal health agency’s recommendation to reschedule marijuana. They also made a questionable claim about the relationship between drug schedules and criminal penalties in a […]| Marijuana Moment
Two GOP senators, including the lead Republican sponsor of a marijuana banking bill, have officially filed new legislation to prevent federal agencies from rescheduling cannabis without tacit approval from Congress. Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Steve Daines (R-MT) are sponsoring the Deferring Executive Authority (DEA) Act, which they briefly previewed this week in statements about […]| Marijuana Moment