The White House Drug Czar says the DEA’s proposal to reschedule marijuana will have “historic and long-lasting impact”.
“We’ve had a policy for over half a century where so many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana”, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Rahul Gupta said in a recent interview. “We’ve had so many people arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated. We know white, Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, but Black and brown incarceration rates are higher.”
Gupta says the move will make banks more willing to work with marijuana businesses via “legitimate interstate commerce.”
Rescheduling is “going to be really important to remove barriers to critical research and perhaps drug development, and it could also lead to more research into the benefits of medical marijuana”, says Gupta.
“It happens that Schedule III drugs are a much, much lower priority in that way–Tylenol with codeine and testosterone are in Schedule III. It will have an impact on racial disparity, incarceration and prosecutions. And whether in Massachusetts or West Virginia or Texas, Americans should be able to get treatment for their condition.”
When it comes to when we could see marijuana-based medicines sold in pharmacies, Gupta said “I’ll leave it to others to talk about the commercial process. The focus for the president has been making sure Americans are able to get the help they need no matter where they live, and on the other side making sure we’re not hurting people.”
Since the DEA began the 60-day public comment period on May 21 for their rescheduling proposal, over 6,000 comments have been submitted with just 3% in support of keeping marijuana Schedule I, and two-thirds in support of descheduling marijuana altogether.
