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A group of six progressive US senators criticized the Biden administration’s “extremely disappointing” response Wednesday to their request last year to remove marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, a category reserved for drugs that do not have an accepted medical use.
It took the Justice Department six months to give senators a half-page response that simply said the Department of Health and Human Services does not recognize marijuana as a safe treatment for any disease or condition, a decision senators took issue with.
“It is clear that cannabis has widely accepted medical benefits, confirmed by the medical and scientific communities both here and around the world,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Cory Booker, DN.J., Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y. ., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote in the letter to the president.
“Cannabis’ therapeutic properties mediated by the effects of both the components tetrahydrocannabinol-alpha (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) make it an excellent alternative to highly addictive opiates for pain relief.”
Marijuana is weighed and packaged for sale at the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle. (Associated Press)
Biden pledged to decriminalize marijuana and automatically erase previous drug-related convictions while on the campaign trail in 2020, but his administration’s inaction on marijuana policy has frustrated the progressive side of the Democratic Party.
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The House voted 220-204 to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level in April, with three Republicans voting yes and two Democrats voting no, but the legislation has stalled in the Senate.
The six progressive senators wrote in Wednesday’s letter that the president should take executive action to also pardon anyone convicted of a non-violent marijuana-related offense.
In this file photo, a jar containing a strain of marijuana nicknamed “Killer D” is displayed at a medical marijuana facility in Unity, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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“The administration’s failure to coordinate a timely review of its cannabis policy is harming thousands of Americans, slowing research and depriving Americans of their ability to use marijuana for medical or other purposes,” the senators wrote.
Paul Best is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @KincaidBest.
