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05/09/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 05/09/2024 14:49

POV: Decision to Reclassify Marijuana as a Less Dangerous Drug Is Long Overdue

POV: Decision to Reclassify Marijuana as a Less Dangerous Drug Is Long Overdue

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Voices & Opinion

POV: Decision to Reclassify Marijuana as a Less Dangerous Drug Is Long Overdue

Move signals a new opportunity for scientific research and economic opportunities, but questions remain

May 9, 2024
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In 1971, when asked about psychiatric professionals' support for cannabis' therapeutic applications and benefits, President Richard Nixon complained, "Most people would do a hell of a lot better with a preacher than a psychiatrist." For Nixon, removing science from the cannabis discussion and elevating morality and virtue moved the conversation into his long-standing concern with youth's ever-growing permissiveness.

However, cannabis science seems to be making a comeback. In a widely anticipated but still controversial announcement, the Biden administration indicated that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will move cannabis out of its Schedule I narcotic classification-grouped with the most dangerous drugs, such as heroin, that the DEA deems highly addictive and of little or no medicinal value. With cannabis a Schedule III substance, businesses will now be allowed to invest in the industry with tax relief and researchers will have an opportunity to investigate cannabis without the draconian restrictions on funding in place since 1971.

While many cannabis legalization activists argue that the move does little to address the historical wrongs of the war on drugs and fails to end federal marijuana prohibition, it is important to note this foundational shift away from the moralistic and criminalized framing perpetuated over the last 50 years since Nixon ensured this outdated scheduling classification.

When Nixon announced the war on drugs and his signature contribution in 1971, the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), narcotics enforcement in America suffered from a fragmented patchwork of policies that begged for federal standards across state lines and provoked a controversy about where cannabis stood in relation to other "street drugs." Marijuana, the symbolic drug of the counterculture, quickly became a political football in the increasingly heated dialogue surrounding the generation gap. Hoping to diffuse this tension, Nixon appointed Governor Raymond P. Shafer (R-Pa.), a former prosecutor, as head of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse to develop guidelines for prevention and law enforcement as well as scheduling recommendations.

The Shafer commission conducted the most extensive and comprehensive examination of marijuana ever performed by the US government. They recorded thousands of pages of transcripts of formal and informal hearings, solicited all points of view, including those of public officials, community leaders, professional experts, and students. They also organized a nationwide survey of public beliefs, information, and experience with drugs. In addition, they conducted separate surveys of opinion among district attorneys, judges, probation officers, clinicians, university health officials, and "free clinic" personnel. In total, they commissioned more than 50 projects to survey enforcement of the marijuana laws in 6 metropolitan jurisdictions.

Nixon found himself in the awkward position of opposing his own study as the report claimed that marijuana did not cause hallucinations and that there was no evidence pot itself caused "crime, sexual immorality or addiction to hard drugs." The commission recommended that private use be legalized, but further suggested that Nixon should remove drug classification from the DEA purview to allow cannabis rescheduling. As Congressman James Scheuer (D-N.Y.) observed, the commission's recommendation to decriminalize marijuana represented a "great step forward in regaining the credibility of the youth in our country."

Nixon disagreed. A week before the report came out, the president announced he would never decriminalize cannabis no matter the study's findings. "I don't want psychiatrists," Nixon grumbled, "I want to smash the dope peddlers." Thus, Nixon maintained an enforcement- and supply side-focus on cannabis policy that exaggerated prohibition's moral righteousness, dismissed the scientific evidence, and maintained the DEA's control over scheduling, which stifled researchers' efforts to understand this widely used substance.

While efforts to persuade the DEA to reschedule cannabis failed several times, this imminent correction raises a new controversy. Even cannabis activists question the impact this new policy will have on enticing "Big Pharma" and corporate investment, often at odds with the public health research that rescheduling allows and threatening the struggling effort in each state to foster economic and racial equity in the industry. While the opening of both research and economic opportunities reflect a shared effort to bring cannabis science out of the morality framing Nixon preferred, Biden's efforts shift the question from "whether" we should reschedule to "how."

Seth Blumenthal, master lecturer at the College of Arts & Sciences Writing Program, can be reached at [email protected].

"POV" is an opinion page that provides timely commentaries from students, faculty, and staff on a variety of issues: on-campus, local, state, national, or international. Anyone interested in submitting a piece, which should be about 700 words long, should contact John O'Rourke at [email protected]. BU Today reserves the right to reject or edit submissions. The views expressed are solely those of the author and are not intended to represent the views of Boston University.

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