Six former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) heads and five former White House drug czars have sent a letter to the attorney general and current DEA administrator, voicing opposition to the top federal health agency’s recommendation to reschedule marijuana. They also made a questionable claim about the relationship between drug schedules and criminal penalties in a way that may exaggerate the potential impact of the incremental reform.
The letter, sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram on Thursday, says that moving cannabis to Schedule III, as advised by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), would “supersize” the industry by providing tax relief and further normalizing the market.
It further asserted that “rescheduling marijuana, and thus reducing criminal penalties for marijuana trafficking, removes a key tool federal agents have to prosecute cartels.” But legal experts contest that claim, pointing out that penalties for trafficking marijuana (and various other drugs) are not directly tied to the scheduling status under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The penalties for cannabis trafficking do vary based on weight. For example, trafficking up to 50 kilograms is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of at least five years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine for a first offense; trafficking 1,000 kilograms carries a minimum 10-year sentence. But those are all specific to marijuana, so the idea that rescheduling would automatically reduce penalties is questionable and seems largely contingent on any future statutory changes by Congress.
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