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During a charged speech on the House floor last week, Congressional Cannabis Caucus founder Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) criticized the federal government’s “unfair” and “insane” prohibition of marijuana.
Blumenauer has said he will be retiring at the end of this Congress. If he goes, there won’t be many outspoken cannabis advocates left on Capitol Hill, which might explain his frustration with how the War on Some Drugs has turned out.
“I am sad, and I am angry,” Blumenauer told the House. “I’ve been working for 50 years leading the effort to end the failed, unfair, cynical, dangerous War on Drugs that targeted Black people, that discouraged the legal use of a therapeutic good—something that could have enriched our economy—but instead criminalized behavior.”
He said the federal government continues to fail the American people today.
“It’s time that the federal government get its act together and stop making things worse,” he said.
Documents Confirm Rescheduling Recommendation
The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a trove of documents that confirm the agency has recommended marijuana be rescheduled to Schedule III on the list of controlled substances. The documents also confirm that the recommendation was based on the merits of the evidence that cannabis is a therapeutic drug.
The document dump is the result of a FOIA request made by star cannabis attorney Matt Zorn, who published it on his blog, On Drugs.
According to the documents, the HHS found that the most compelling evidence supporting weed’s medical efficacy was related to its use as a pain reliever. A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review did not find support for the claim that cannabis can treat anxiety or epilepsy. The agency also said that the likelihood of experiencing adverse effects on weed outweighed its efficacy at treating PTSD.
The FDA said there was evidence that cannabis can help treat symptoms of pain and nausea.
Federal Researcher Questions Hemp Limits
A researcher for the Department of Justice (DOJ) says the federal THC limit for hemp is hurting legitimate hemp farmers and is not based on science.
On a recent episode of the Justice Today podcast, Frances Scott a physical scientist at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences said the 0.3 percent THC limit that was placed on hemp was based on “one mention hypothetically in an article from the 1950s,” rather than up-to-date marijuana science.
Scott said the rule hurts hemp farmers who accidentally go over the limit by small amounts. “Quite frankly, you’d have to smoke a joint the size of a telephone pole to get much off of that 0.35 percent,” he said.
The researcher also said the dry-weight limit makes it difficult to produce topical lotions and other hemp products.
Some lawmakers are looking to amend the law to allow hemp farmers to produce plants with up to one percent THC.