Marijuana Moment
Tens of thousands of people and organizations weighed in on the federal government’s marijuana rescheduling proposal ahead of the close of public comment on Monday night. That includes governors, members of Congress, medical professionals and advocacy groups on either side of the legalization debate, among many others.
Some, including a coalition of reform groups, called the recommendation to move cannabis to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) insufficient to address issues such as the state–federal conflict between marijuana laws and criminal justice matters related to prohibition. Others criticized the Biden administration plan as a political move they claimed is unsupported by scientific evidence. Additional commentators said Schedule III is an appropriate classification for cannabis.
In all, more than 40,000 submissions had been filed on the issue as of Monday evening. The 60-day public comment period kicked off in May, shortly after the president and the Justice Department (DOJ) confirmed the marijuana rescheduling plan.
DOJ officials have said they’ll take all public comments submitted by the deadline into consideration as they weighs the reform, but they’ve said they’re especially interested in hearing about the “unique economic impacts” of rescheduling, noting that state-level legalization has created a “multibillion dollar industry” that stands to benefit from possible federal tax relief under the reform.
Read some of the comments at the MM article
