Maggie Hart, [email protected]
Washington DC - Last night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time, the public comment period for the Biden Administration’s proposed rule to reschedule marijuana closed, resulting in a total of 42,925 comments. While the Department of Justice proposes shifting marijuana from Schedule I, the most restrictive schedule on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), to Schedule III, a less restrictive schedule, a majority of comments support federally decriminalizing marijuana or descheduling it.
A final analysis of available public comment data, conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) at 2 PM ET today, resulted in the following findings*:
The overwhelming support for descheduling marijuana, meaning removing it from the CSA entirely, underscores the limitations of a shift to Schedule III, which would result in tax benefits for marijuana businesses and potential changes to research restrictions, but would ultimately maintain federal criminalization and its associated harms.
In response to these findings, Cat Packer, Directora de Mercados de Medicamentos y Regulación Legal para DPA, emitió la siguiente declaración:
“Participation in public comment processes gives the American public a chance to speak from personal experience and provide feedback on proposed legal changes – and it gives the federal government an opportunity to adjust their proposals to reflect public opinion. When it comes to the DOJ’s proposal to reschedule marijuana, public opinion could not be clearer. 29,750 comments, nearly 70% of all comments, support federal decriminalization or legalization because rescheduling is simply not enough. The people are demanding the Biden Administration do more to deliver on the marijuana reforms that communities deserve – and that President Biden and Vice President Harris themselves have promised on numerous occasions.
“Our analysis of public comment data shows that not only do over two-thirds of Americans who participated in the public comment process demand more than just rescheduling, but 42% recognize that ending federal criminalization is key to achieving racial justice and social equity. This is something that the Biden Administration has repeatedly identified as a priority in their marijuana reform efforts. However, under Schedule III, communities of color would still face disproportionate harms and lifelong consequences from federal marijuana criminalization. Under Schedule III, people could still be jailed or deported for marijuana violations, even in states where it is legal. Under Schedule III, people could lose their jobs, their housing, their SNAP food stamp benefits, or even lose custody of their children for marijuana violations. If the Biden Administration wants to be responsive to public opinion and live up to their own stated values of racial justice and repair, marijuana must be federally decriminalized and additional actions must be taken to end the lifelong collateral consequences that result from marijuana criminalization.
“This is a galvanizing moment for our movement for drug policies grounded in health, equity, and reinvestment. Even if marijuana is ultimately rescheduled through this process, there are additional actions that President Biden and Congress can take. In the coming weeks and months, we will continue working with our allies to urge President Biden to take a whole government approach to advance equity in federal marijuana policy and mitigate the harms of criminalization. That means expanding pardons and commutations, protecting state marijuana programs, and directing federal agencies to cease punishing people for marijuana use. We know that the people and the evidence are on our side. It is time that our federal government listened.”
Fondo:
Under a shift to Schedule III on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), most criminal penalties for marijuana would continue at the federal level, including those for simple possession. President Biden pledged to federally decriminalize marijuana use and expunge marijuana records of the 2020 campaign trail, and both Biden and Harris have touted marijuana reform as a significant accomplishment of their first term. However, the Administration’s actions to date fall short of the promises they made to voters. The Biden Administration has not decriminalized marijuana use or released anyone in prison for marijuana, expunged any records, or reduced prison sentences for anyone incarcerated for marijuana. Under Schedule III, research restrictions are expected to change, and marijuana businesses would receive tax parity, but criminalization and its harms, barriers, and associated racial disparities would remain. For the many individuals and communities that will remain criminalized under this new classification under federal law, rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III is not enough.
Despite the limitations of rescheduling marijuana, the President can take action on marijuana reform through the executive branch. Through UMD’s public education and outreach strategy and other coalition efforts, they are demanding that President Biden and his administration take additional actions to follow through on his pledge to federally decriminalize marijuana. Biden can also endorse Congressional legislation that would deschedule marijuana and address the harms of marijuana criminalization, such as the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act in the House and the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) in the Senate.
Obtenga más información sobre la programación federal de marihuana aquí.
*Métodos:
At 2 PM ET on July 23, 2024, two DPA staff members exported 42,910 public comments that had been posted in response to the DEA’s proposed rule to reschedule marijuana. They then conducted independent analyses to analyze the data. Below is a summary of the methods they used.
First, the analysts identified comments that were submitted in bulk using prominent public comment tools that support descheduling, including the one hosted by United for Marijuana Decriminalization, which submitted 10,327 comments through its tool. Then, the analysts manually scanned comments for key search terms to ensure that most comments including the search terms were not only mentioning the terms, but in favor of those terms. Next, using Python, the analysts input the search terms to identify comments in support of descheduling. They repeated the process to identify comments that demonstrated support for federal marijuana reform to address racial justice and social equity. Finally, the instructions and comments were run through Chat GPT to confirm the accuracy of the results.
Para evaluar el apoyo a la reprogramación, los términos de búsqueda clave incluyeron: desprogramar, desprogramar, de programar, de programar, desprogramar, desprogramar, desprogramar, desprogramar, desprogramar, desprogramar, despenalizar, despenalizar, despenalizar, despenalizar, descriminalizar, despenalizar, eliminar de la programación, eliminar del cronograma, eliminar de CSA, eliminar de CSA, eliminar de la ley de sustancias controladas, eliminar de la ley de sustancias controladas, por favor legalizar, reprogramar no es suficiente, necesito legalizar, apoyo lo legal, legalizar la marihuana, legalizar el cannabis, desclasificar , desclasificación, hora de legalizar, solo legalizarlo, debería ser legal, debería ser completamente legal, debería ser completamente legal, debería ser completamente legal, debería ser eliminado, ¡legalízalo!, ¡legalízalo!, legalízalo, hazlo legal, tómalo apagado, apoyo la legalización del cannabis, tratado como alcohol, debe ser eliminado, debe ser completamente legal, apoyo completamente legal, apoyo completamente legal, completamente legal federal, completamente legal federal, and full legalization.
Para evaluar el apoyo a la justicia racial y la equidad social, los términos de búsqueda clave incluyeron: justicia social, justicia racial, equidad racial, equidad social, disparidad racial, disparidades raciales, racismo, racista, guerra contra las drogas, guerra contra las drogas, impacto desproporcionado, injusto, objetivo desproporcionado, comunidades marginadas, personas de color, and injustices.
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Acerca de la Alianza de Políticas de Drogas
La Drug Policy Alliance es la organización líder en Estados Unidos que trabaja para poner fin a la guerra contra las drogas, reparar sus daños y construir un mercado de drogas no punitivo, equitativo y regulado. Imaginamos un mundo que abarque la humanidad plena de las personas, independientemente de su relación con las drogas. Abogamos por que la regulación de las drogas se base en la evidencia, la salud, la equidad y los derechos humanos. En colaboración con otros movimientos y en todos los niveles políticos, cambiamos leyes, promovemos la justicia y salvamos vidas. Obtenga más información en drugpolicy.org.
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