D.E.A. Head Anne Milgram—Reclassify Cannabis or Resign Footnotes
D.E.A. Head Anne Milgram—Reclassify Cannabis or Resign Footnotes
¹ See, e.g., Saad, Grassroots Support for Legalizing Marijuana Hits Record 70%, Gallup (Nov. 8, 2023) (“Majority support persists across all major demographic and party groups”), available at https://news.gallup.com/poll/514007/grassroots-support-legalizing-marijuana-hits-record.aspx (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
² See, e.g., Law Enforcement Action Partnership (formerly Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), Who We Are (“The Law Enforcement Action Partnership is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit of police, prosecutors, judges, corrections officials, and other law enforcement officials advocating for criminal justice and drug policy reforms that will make our communities safer and more just. Founded by five police officers—Captain Peter Christ (Ret.), Lieutenant Jack Cole (Ret.), Detective Howard Wooldridge (Ret.), Detective Daniel Solano (Ret.), and Constable John Gayder—in 2002 with a sole focus on drug policy, today our speakers bureau numbers more than 300 criminal justice professionals advising on police-community relations, incarceration, harm reduction, drug policy, and global issues from a place of unassailable credibility and insight.”), available at https://lawenforcementactionpartnership.org/about-us/who-we-are/ (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024); Law Enforcement Leaders, Members, available at https://lawenforcementleaders.org/members/ (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
³ See, e.g., above, n. 2, Law Enforcement Leaders, Members, available at https://lawenforcementleaders.org/members/#:~:text=Anne%20Milgram,%2C%20New%20Jersey (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
⁴ See Law Enforcement Leaders, Letter to President Biden re cannabis scheduling (Feb. 22, 2024), available at https://lawenforcementleaders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Rescheduling-of-Cannabis-Letter-from-Law-Enforcement-Leaders.pdf (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
⁵ See, e.g., Biden Campaign, Joe Biden Is the Presumptive Nominee (May 31, 2020) (“He will end, once and for all, the federal crack and powder cocaine disparity, decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge all prior cannabis use convictions, and end all incarceration for drug use alone and instead divert individuals to drug courts and treatment.”), available at https://web.archive.org/web/20200531231754/https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/ (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
⁶ See, e.g., Engelbrecht, Biden nominates former New Jersey attorney general to lead D.E.A., The New York Times (April 12, 2021) (Milgram’s “nomination comes as more states across the country are moving to ease marijuana laws. The Biden administration has been less proactive about marijuana reform. While the president has never endorsed full legalization, his plans for criminal justice reform include decriminalizing recreational use, which he trumpeted on the campaign trail.”), available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/us/politics/anne-milgram-dea.html (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
⁷ See The White House, Statement from President Biden on Marijuana Reform (Oct. 6, 2022) (“I am asking the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General to initiate the administrative process to review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. Federal law currently classifies marijuana in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the classification meant for the most dangerous substances. This is the same schedule as for heroin and LSD, and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine–the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic.”), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/06/statement-from-president-biden-on-marijuana-reform/ (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
⁸ See Levine, M.D., Letter to Ms. Anne Milgram re cannabis and the Controlled Substances Act (C.S.A.) (Aug. 29, 2023) (“I, the Assistant Secretary for Health, am recommending that marijuana, referring to botanical cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) that is within the definition 'marihuana' or 'marijuana' in the CSA, be controlled in Schedule III of the CSA.”), available at https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24359427/hhs-marijuana-rescheduling.pdf (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
⁹ See 21 U.S.C. § 812(b)(1)(B) (Schedule I drugs must have “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States”), available at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/812#:~:text=The%20drug%20or%20other%20substance%20has%20no%20currently%20accepted%20medical%20use%20in%20treatment%20in%20the%20United%20States. (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024); F.D.A. Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Considerations for Whether Marijuana Has a Currently Accepted Medical Use in the United States for Purposes of Section 202(b) of the Controlled Substances Act (Aug. 28, 2023) at 7 (“based on the widespread [health care practitioner] experience and the extent of medical use evaluated by [the office of the assistant secretary for health] under the Part 1 test, and an evaluation of available credible scientific support described herein for at least some therapeutic uses identified in the Part 1 test, we find that, for purposes of the drug scheduling criteria in 21 U.S.C. 812(b), marijuana has a currently accepted medical use in the United States for: anorexia related to a medical condition; nausea and vomiting (e.g., chemotherapy-induced); and pain.”), available at https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24359427/hhs-marijuana-rescheduling.pdf#page=116 (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
¹⁰ See 21 U.S.C. § 811(b) (“The recommendations of the Secretary [of Health and Human Services] to the Attorney General shall be binding on the Attorney General as to such scientific and medical matters”), available at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/811#:~:text=The%20recommendations%20of%20the%20Secretary%20to%20the%20Attorney%20General%20shall%20be%20binding%20on%20the%20Attorney%20General%20as%20to%20such%20scientific%20and%20medical%20matters (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
¹¹ See The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, Preamble, available at https://www.unodc.org/pdf/convention_1961_en.pdf#page=15 (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
¹² See, generally, The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, available at https://www.unodc.org/pdf/convention_1961_en.pdf#page=13 (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024); id., Article 22 (member countries are left to determine whether to prohibit cannabis cultivation).
¹³ See, e.g., Zdinjak, Justin Trudeau Says There Are No Downsides To Cannabis Legalization, Slams International Treaties' Excuse To Reject Reform, Benzinga (Apr. 9, 2024), available at https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/24/04/38162783/justin-trudeau-says-there-are-no-downsides-to-cannabis-legalization-slams-international-treaties (last accessed Apr. 18, 2024).
¹⁴ See, e.g., Tsirkin, Veterans groups join calls for Biden administration to reschedule marijuana, N.B.C. News (Feb. 22, 2024), available at https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/veterans-groups-join-calls-biden-administration-reschedule-marijuana-rcna139565 (last visited Apr. 18, 2024).