Lawmakers Urge DEA To Stop Dragging Its Feet On Weed

A group of 20 Democratic lawmakers urged the Drug Enforcement Administration on Wednesday to “promptly” remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of restricted drugs, where it currently sits in the same category as heroin.

“Though marijuana is widely used and… associated with fewer adverse outcomes than alcohol, it remains in the most restrictive schedule,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “This placement produces a cascade of severe penalties for marijuana users and businesses, including for criminal records, immigration statuses, employment, taxation, health care, public housing, social services, and more.”

“It is time for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to act,” the lawmakers wrote.

The letter, first reported by HuffPost, was led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). It comes a year-and-a-half after President Joe Biden ordered a review of pot’s classification as a scheduled drug under the Controlled Substances Act, and nearly eight months since the Department of Health and Human Services recommended moving cannabis from Schedule I, the most restrictive, to Schedule III.

Biden campaigned on decriminalizing the use of cannabis, but progress toward that promise has been slow. In October 2022, Biden directed HHS and the Department of Justice to review how pot is scheduled under federal law. At the same time, he pardoned every person convicted of simple marijuana possession — an important but largely symbolic step, as no one had been incarcerated in federal prison solely on possession charges.

The Controlled Substances Act divides drugs into