The Drug Enforcement Agency announced Thursday that marijuana will remain a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act, despite the fact that some states have legalized the use of medical marijuana and a handful allow recreational use. As it stands, these states remain in defiance of federal law.
The DEA reached its conclusion stating that, in a nutshell, there is a lack of information to support changes to the current federal law. They point to an evaluation conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services that concluded that marijuana has no currently accepted medical use because the drug’s chemistry is not known and reproducible; there are no adequate safety studies; there are no adequate and well-controlled studies proving efficacy; the drug is not accepted by qualified experts; and the scientific evidence is not widely available.
Although marijuana advocates are certainly disappointed, new guidelines relaxing the rules for marijuana research are forthcoming. This will allow more institutions to grow marijuana for scientific study, which may shed light on the question of marijuana’s potency, efficacy and effectiveness as a medical treatment for various maladies.
Despite the fact that some state marijuana laws permit the use and sale of marijuana, federal law still criminalizes the possession and sale of marijuana by way of the Controlled Substance Act. Where they conflict, federal law trumps state law. Although most federal law enforcement agencies typically do not interfere with states’ rulings in the majority of marijuana cases, be aware that the federal government still has the power to penalize individuals for marijuana possession, manufacturing and cultivation as well as trafficking and distribution.
Source: USA Today, “Marijuana to remain illegal under federal law, DEA says”, by Donna Leinwand Leger, accessed August 16, 2016.
