White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said today that the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) recommendation to the DEA to reschedule marijuana was “guided by the evidence”, while clarifying that the Justice Department now has the final say on the matter.
During today’s daily White House Press Briefing, Jean-Pierre was asked “There’s currently still a patchwork of state marijuana laws to regulate the drug safety, including whether there’s traces of led in products. Since marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, with it becoming more common at the state level, is the administration doing anything to try to improve the safety regulation of [cannabis] products, or any consideration of legalizing marijuana moving forward at the federal level?”
Jean-Pierre responded by saying “I will give you a little bit of an update. As you all know the President asked secretary of HHS and attorney general to initiative the administrative process to review how marijuana is scheduled. HHS has concluded their independent review, guided by the evidence.”
Jean-Pierre Says “The scheduling review is now with DOJ, and any input should certainly be directed towards them”, noting that “They can speak to where we’re marijuana rescheduling is at this point.”
More specifically, the final decision on whether or not to reschedule marijuana is in the hands of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which is a branch of the DOJ (Department of Justice). The DEA said last month that they’re “in the process” of deterring where marijuana should be placed on the federal Controlled Substances Act.
The response from Jean-Pierre did not directly answer the questions from the reporter, given that even if marijuana is rescheduled as HHS is recommending, it would not directly address marijuana safety regulations or marijuana legalization (a move to Schedule III would technically legalize marijuana for prescription use, but not for recreational use).
Last month Vice President Kamala Harris said “we need to legalize marijuana“, while also saying that marijuana should be rescheduled “as quickly as possible“.
