Senator Elizabeth Warren Once Again Calls On The DEA To Deschedule Marijuana
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, recently made an appearance on former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau’s Pod Save America podcast, and one of the topics discussed — apart from The Rock being part of her hypothetical “blunt rotation” — was an issue she’s been “working on lately: weed.”
Warren, along with 11 colleagues recently wrote to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to urge them “to swiftly deschedule marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).” In the letter, they said that “(R)escheduling to Schedule III would mark a significant step forward, (but) it would not resolve the worst harms of the current system. Thus, the DEA should deschedule marijuana altogether. Marijuana’s placement in the CSA has had a devastating impact on our communities and is increasingly out of step with state law and public opinion.”
Favreau asked the senator whether she’s had “conversations” with the DEA, Department of Justice (DOJ), or the administration about the issue. To which Warren said that she wouldn’t discuss private conversations but confirmed that she has had them by winking at Favreau.
“There still could be regulations around it like there is around alcohol — you’ve got to be a certain age, you got to have certain disclosures about the potency and so on, I’m all for that,” Warren explained. “But I really want to say to the DEA: Guys, come on. It is not 1958, and we don’t need to be terrified of this stuff. Let’s just deschedule it and go forward.”
When Favreau asked whether she thinks the DEA has the authority to deschedule cannabis, Warren plainly said “Yes. They do. They clearly do.”
The DEA has yet to make a move, though. And it’s been so vague that apart from the letter from Warren and the other US senators, Representative Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, has also had to reach out once again to seek updates on the agency’s review of cannabis scheduling. The DEA has yet to respond as of this writing.
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