Tell The Biden Administration: Marijuana Must Be Decriminalized

President Biden promised to decriminalize marijuana at the national level. Now, the Biden Administration’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has proposed moving marijuana from Schedule I (most restrictive) to Schedule III (less restrictive), which would maintain its criminalization under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This would continue the country’s failed approach on marijuana and fail to deliver the comprehensive reform that impacted communities and marijuana businesses need. Biden must call for marijuana to be removed from the CSA altogether.

As long as marijuana is scheduled on the CSA, the harms that come with marijuana criminalization will also continue.

Submit public comment below to tell the Biden Administration marijuana must be descheduled. A shift to Schedule III isn’t enough. Biden must deliver on marijuana decriminalization, invest in communities, repair the harms caused by the war on drugs, and treat state-licensed marijuana businesses like all other American businesses.

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Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the DEA’s proposed rule on the status of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). While I appreciate the Biden Administration’s efforts to reconsider marijuana’s inappropriate classification as a Schedule I controlled substance, I have deep concerns about the insufficiency of rescheduling. Instead of keeping marijuana illegal under the CSA, it’s time to end this country’s failed policy of criminalization by completely removing marijuana from the CSA’s drug schedules. I urge the DEA to reconsider its proposed rule and issue a new rule to deschedule marijuana from the CSA.

Rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III is not enough. Marijuana must be removed from the CSA and should be federally regulated for both medical and adult use. Rescheduling will not end federal marijuana criminalization. Rescheduling will not end federal marijuana arrests, even for possession and use. Rescheduling will not release anyone in prison for marijuana. Rescheduling will not expunge previous marijuana arrests. Rescheduling will not end deportations,  immigration consequences,or tourist visa restrictions stemming from marijuana activity. Rescheduling will not restore access to government benefits that people have lost due to marijuana activity. Rescheduling will not bring state marijuana programs into compliance with federal law. Rescheduling will not guarantee fair working conditions for individuals working in the marijuana industry. Rescheduling will not facilitate patients’ access to medical marijuana.

Overall, Schedule III is insufficient, even for the marijuana industry. For example, although placing marijuana in Schedule III would remove unfair and onerous federal tax penalties upon state-regulated marijuana businesses, it won’t give them legal access to essential business services and is unlikely to result in significant wage increases for workers or lower prices for patients and consumers. More importantly, rescheduling marijuana would continue the criminalization of most marijuana activity occurring in the United States such as personal possession, cultivation, use, and participation in state-legal marijuana businesses and programs.

The only way to end federal marijuana criminalization and its harms is to completely remove marijuana from the CSA, or “descheduling.” Guided by principles of public health and equity, a new federal marijuana policy should seek to end unjust criminal legal consequences for marijuana activity, restore rights and opportunities for individuals and communities targeted by marijuana criminalization, and ensure a diverse marketplace by protecting small businesses and equity programs from the emergence of national and multinational corporate monopolies.

Not only is the outcome of Schedule III insufficient, the process of evaluating marijuana’s status on the CSA is also flawed. The administrative review process conducted by the FDA and DEA is, by design, limited in scope and fails to consider the racist origins and impacts of marijuana prohibition which have produced overwhelming negative social, economic, and public health consequences. These generational outcomes are still felt by predominantly Black and Latino communities experiencing mass incarceration, inaccessible public housing, and denial of food assistance programs, among other detrimental consequences that will continue under marijuana rescheduling.

Moreover, for decades, the U.S. has played an instrumental role in creating and enforcing marijuana prohibition at the global level with devastating consequences around the world. With the changing realities at the domestic level comes a responsibility to start repairing the damage caused by prohibitionist policies and support initiatives that lead to systemic changes in the international arena. Consequently, the U.S. should undertake active diplomacy at the United Nations level together with like-minded countries to challenge the outdated global drug control regime.

Given the Biden Administration’s repeated acknowledgment of the racially discriminatory enforcement of marijuana laws and related harms, any process by the Biden Administration to develop a new federal policy for marijuana without these considerations is unjustifiable.

President Biden has repeatedly promised to decriminalize marijuana. I call on the DEA not to undermine President Biden’s campaign pledge by finalizing the proposed rule to reschedule marijuana under the CSA. It is imperative for the Biden Administration to follow through on this unfulfilled commitment by taking action now to end and repair the harms of federal marijuana criminalization. Because rescheduling marijuana fails to accomplish this, I urge the DEA to reconsider this proposed rule and replace it with a new rule to deschedule marijuana from the CSA.

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* Disclaimer: By submitting public comment through this form, you are consenting to receive periodic communications from the Drug Policy Alliance, National Cannabis Industry Association, Parabola Center, Marijuana Justice, National Association of Black Cannabis Lawyers (NABCL), Minority Cannabis Business Association, Better Organizing to Win Legalization (BOWL), and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP).