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A group of Republican senators have sent a letter to the head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) highlighting their concerns about the Biden administration’s moves to reschedule marijuana from a high-risk category to a low-risk category.
In the letter, the Lawmakers led by Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) questioned DEA Administrator Anne Milgram about whether U.S. efforts to reschedule marijuana will violate the country’s obligations as a signatory to international treaties.
Romney and two of his colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, James Risch (R-ID) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE), made their concerns known Wednesday amid an ongoing DEA review to reclassify the cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to Schedule III.
Currently, cannabis is classified in Schedule I of the CSA along with drugs such as heroin and ecstasy which have a high potential for abuse. The move to Schedule III will group it together with drugs like Tylenol and ketamine.
“Any effort to reschedule marijuana must be based on proven facts and scientific evidence – not on the favored policy of a particular administration – and take into account our treaty obligations,” the senators wrote.
Marijuana stocks have posted substantial gains this year in anticipation of a rescheduling decision by the DEA, which could lead to tax benefits for cannabis companies, among other benefits.
The demonstration began in August after the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a letter to the DEA, recommending that the agency reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.
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