DEA keeping marijuana a Schedule I drug for high abuse potential

The Drug Enforcement Administration announced in early August that marijuana will remain a Schedule I controlled substance, following an April decision to review the drug’s status.

A substance is classified as Schedule I if it shows a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision and has a high potential for abuse. Chuck Rosenberg, acting administrator for the DEA, said in a letter to petitioners that though Schedule I includes substances more dangerous than marijuana, relative danger is not a factor for deciding Schedule I.

“Using established scientific standards that are consistent with that same FDA drug approval process and based on the FDA’s scientific and medical evaluation, as well as the legal standards in the (Controlled Substances Act), marijuana will remain a Schedule I controlled substance,” Rosenberg said.

Schedule I substances cannot be used in research without an extensive application process and review by several institutional boards.

Ignacio Almazan, executive director of North Carolina NORML, a group that works to reform marijuana laws and policies, said the group sees no reason for the decision.

“We view this decision as the same way as we view the fact that marijuana is still illegal,” he said. “There’s science showing that marijuana has medicinal value.”

Almazan said the decision doesn’t make sense because medical marijuana is currently widely legal. The drug is legal in some form in 25 states and the District of Columbia.

“The DEA as a law enforcement agency should not be involved in the decision about whether or not to allow medicine to be used,” he said. “Why are no doctors involved in that decision?”

Carla Lowe, founder and northern California chairperson of Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana, said her organization is in support of the DEA’s decision.

“Marijuana has been in that category for many years and throughout those years, there have been many efforts made by proponents of legalization to move it to Schedule II,” she said.

As a federal organization, the DEA’s decision should trump state laws, Lowe said. “Our only hope in seeing this turned around is a change in administration,” she said. Rosenberg said that the DEA would welcome any developments in cannabis research that could lead to medical advancements, and ended the letter by writing that the decision points more to a desire to keep marijuana research safe than the belief that marijuana is as dangerous as other Schedule I substances like heroin.

“We fully support legitimate medical and scientific research on marijuana and its constituent parts and we will continue to seek ways to make the process for those researchers more efficient and effective,” Rosenberg said.

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