Marijuana Moment has this very interesting snippet with regard to current rescheduling conversations happening within the administration
The Justice Department has asked a federal court to dismiss a cannabis industry lawsuit that seeks to block the enforcement of marijuana prohibition against state-legal activity—in part, it says, because the court should not get ahead of a possible cannabis rescheduling decision that’s being considered.
In a document filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Western Division, on Tuesday, lawyers for Attorney General Merrick Garland said that Congress “rationally set up an administrative process for rescheduling drugs.”
“Pursuant to that mechanism, the DEA is currently considering” a recommendation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “to reschedule marijuana” under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
“It is not for the courts to disrupt or get ahead of that administrative process,” DOJ said.
Overall, DOJ also said that marijuana businesses who brought the case lack standing to pursue the challenge because they cannot claim direct injury since they haven’t been federally prosecuted under the policy of prohibition. The filing also notes that a long-standing congressional rider has been in place for a decade, barring the department from using federal funds to interfere in state-legal medical cannabis laws.
“Plaintiffs do not dispute that as enacted, the CSA rationally served legitimate government purposes. Yet they argue that the CSA has been rendered irrational because Congress has chosen to allow federal territories to enact marijuana legalization laws and has prohibited the Department of Justice on spending funds to prevent implementation of state medical marijuana laws…while the Department of Justice has allegedly exercised prosecutorial discretion to decline to prosecute conduct that complies with state marijuana laws under certain circumstances.”
Read their full article
