During a recent Senate hearing the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services defended his agencies recommendation that marijuana be moved to Schedule III.
In August, following a nearly year-long review, HHS sent a letter to the DEA urging them to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act. This would effectively legalize marijuana for prescription use nationwide, while providing medical marijuana patients with a bevy of federal rights and protections not current afforded to them.
Today, during a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) questioned HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra about the agency’s rescheduling recommendation.
“In August your department recommended the reclassification of marijuana to Schedule III. Previous administrations had used a 5-factor test to determine what the scheduling of a drug should be. But this admin has recreated a new 2-factor test to determine currently accepted medical use”, stated Senator Cornyn. “What is the reason for the change?”
Becerra responded by saying “As you’ll see from the report that’s now been made public, there’s been a lot of science that’s been collected over the years on cannabis. We have far more information now As you know, throughout the country, many states have moved much farther than the federal government has. Even in places like Texas, you see where action has been taken on cannabis. What we’re doing is simply reflecting what the science is showing.”
For a timeline of HHS’s recommendation to reschedule marijuana and the DEA’s current review of that recommendation, click here.
