Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Sen. Ron Wyden have welcomed reports that a change is pending on the federal status of marijuana as a drug with no acceptable medical use.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is considering a shift of cannabis from Schedule 1 — which includes LSD and heroin — to Schedule 3, a step that would classify it with other drugs considered as having moderate to low potential for physical and psychological abuse. Among them: Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, steroids and testosterone.
The federal authority is under the Controlled Substances Act, which Congress passed in 1970 as President Richard Nixon launched a war on drugs. But since Oregon led the way to removing criminal penalties for possession of less than one ounce back in 1973 — when Blumenauer co-sponsored it as a first-term member of the Oregon House — 24 states have legalized marijuana for adult use and 38 states allow for its medical use.
“We’re finally in the home stretch to end the failed war — and misguided war — on drugs,” Blumenauer said Tuesday, April 30, in a video conference with reporters from his office in Washington, D.C.
“This will do more to raise the profile of the issue … that has never gained the attention it deserves or the momentum it demands. Today’s decision changes all of that. There is no going back.”
The Oregon Legislature in 1973 classified possession of less than an ounce as a traffic-type violation punishable by a maximum fine of $100. It was increased in 1987 to $1,000, which is rarely levied.
Lawmakers in 1997 reversed course and made it a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by maximums of 30 days in jail and a $1,250 fine. But that law never took effect. Voters rejected it in 1998, the same year they approved marijuana for medical use, following California’s vote in 1996.
Oregon voters approved full legalization in 2014, after Colorado and Washington state did so two years earlier. Previous ballot initiatives failed in 1986, 2010 and 2012.
A longtime ally
Blumenauer was joined by Rep. Barbara Lee of California, a Democrat elected to Congress in 1998. Lee also has advocated legislation to change the federal status of marijuana.
She said support from the public and Congress has changed the political landscape on a subject that was relegated to the shadows for years.
“That didn’t happen because of me or Earl Blumenauer,” she said.
“That happened because people in this country, especially from states that have legalized both recreational and medicinal marijuana, have risen up and said no more — we won’t stand for this. This is when more members of Congress are responding to the will of the people and have embraced the practical and reasonable nature of rescheduling.”
Marijuana arrests and convictions have disproportionately affected people of color, and Lee said any rescheduling of marijuana should be followed by legislation for restorative justice.
Biden’s stance
President Joe Biden has never fully embraced legalization. Blumenauer suggested in a recent interview with The New York Times that Biden, already the oldest president, could help his own standing for re-election Nov. 5 if he did so.
Biden, however, has taken other steps, such as releasing inmates from federal prisons if their sole offense was linked to marijuana possession and expunging their records.
“This is the most significant one,” Blumenauer said of the reported rescheduling.
Oregon's Sen. Ron Wyden issued a statement:
“After decades of the federal government being dug in on prohibition, moving cannabis to Schedule III would be a huge shift in policy and signal to the American people that the days of reefer madness are coming to an end.
“Medical research will open up and legal small businesses will no longer be treated unjustly like criminals under the inequitable 280-E tax provision — a provision I’ve been working for years to repeal.”
What’s next?
The U.S. House has passed legislation to allow access by marijuana-related businesses to normal banking functions, and to the same tax deductions for expenses as other businesses. It has not done so in this two-year Congress, when Republicans have a current one-vote majority in the House. The Senate has not done so, but a pending bill is co-sponsored by Wyden, who leads the tax-writing Finance Committee, plus Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Blumenauer said he still hopes that Congress might complete action before the end of this year.
He acknowledged that groups opposed to marijuana reform, such as Smart Approaches to Marijuana, might attempt to block any DEA rescheduling in court.
“It always takes longer than we expect,” he said. “But federal policy is out of step with the American people. It doesn’t have to take months or years.”
Blumenauer and Lee have only eight more months in the House. Blumenauer is retiring after 28 years, and Lee lost a primary bid for the U.S. Senate on March 5.
But with more than two dozen members from both parties in the informal Congressional Cannabis Caucus, Blumenauer said, “there is no shortage of champions."
"This gives permission for others in the political sphere to step up and do what they know is right,” he added. “I think it breaks the logjam.”
pwong@pamplinmedia.com
Most Popular
Comments / 0