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MARIJUANA MOMENT
GOP SENATOR IS WRONG ABOUT INTERNATIONAL TREATIES PREVENTING MARIJUANA
RESCHEDULING, CANNABIS COMPANIES AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS SAY
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POLITICS
GOP SENATOR IS WRONG ABOUT INTERNATIONAL TREATIES PREVENTING MARIJUANA
RESCHEDULING, CANNABIS COMPANIES AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS SAY
Published
12 hours ago
on
April 22, 2024
By
Ben Adlin
Dozens of marijuana companies and advocacy groups are pushing back against Sen.
Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) recent claims that the U.S. would be in violation of
international drug treaty agreements if it reschedules cannabis to Schedule III
of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
In a letter sent to Romney this month, more than 50 organizations said the
senator made “inaccurate claims that neither reflect the current state of
medical and scientific knowledge about marijuana nor an accurate application of
relevant treaties to proposed reforms.”
Signatories—including major marijuana businesses, industry groups, law firms,
ancillary businesses and and cannabis advocacy organizations—said in the April 9
letter that they wanted to “correct the record.”
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Late last month, Romney and Sens. James Risch (R-ID) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE)
sent a letter to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne
Milgram arguing that rescheduling marijuana—as recommended by the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS)—would put the U.S. out of compliance with
international treaty obligations and make it harder to ensure that other
countries continue to enforce drug laws, “including for deadly narcotics like
fentanyl.”
The new industry and advocacy group response contends that Romney’s
understanding of the law is out of date.
“Your letter cites a 1977 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit describing obligations under the Single Convention that would not be met
if marijuana were reclassified under schedule III,” it says. “However, in the
many years since the court weighed in, the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs
voted to reclassify cannabis in recognition of its medical uses. Moving
marijuana to schedule III, as recommended by HHS, simply acknowledges this
accepted reality.”
“The U.S. is not required under any applicable Treaty to keep marijuana in
schedule I or II under the CSA. So long as certain requirements are met, the
drug Treaties provide the U.S. with the flexibility to classify relevant
substances based on scientific and medical evidence and in accordance with
domestic laws such as the CSA. The U.S. Department of State addressed this in
the fall of 2023 during an intersessional meeting of the UN’s Commission on
Narcotic Drugs, stating that the Single Convention is primarily focused on drug
trafficking and has an international, rather than domestic, focus.”
Ever since news leaked in August that the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) had sent a recommendation to DEA that marijuana be rescheduled as
a Schedule III drug, some have warned that the move could still hit legal snags.
One of the open questions is whether U.S. interpretations of international drug
law would block the proposal.
Officials and advocates have interpreted the country’s duties under those
treaties in competing ways.
Among those who’ve raised concerns is Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who raised the
issue in a letter to DEA Administrator Milgram in January, claiming that any
reclassification that puts marijuana outside of Schedule I or Schedule II “would
constitute a violation of the Single Convention,” referring to the 1961 United
Nations (UN) Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
In 2016, DEA itself said in a denial of a cannabis rescheduling petition that
“in view of United States obligations under international drug control treaties,
marijuana cannot be placed in a schedule less restrictive than schedule II.”
But as a coalition of 12 senators pointed out in a separate letter to Milgram a
week before Harris’s was sent, the UN has since revised global cannabis
scheduling policies and allowed other member states, such as Canada, to legalize
and regulate marijuana without penalty. Those lawmakers urged DEA to legalize
marijuana completely.
Earlier this month, meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his
government’s concern about possible United Nations (UN) penalties for legalizing
marijuana never materialized, disclosing that no officials have so much as
discussed the issue with Canada since the reform was enacted in 2018.
The prime minister was a chief proponent of legalization, and the government has
defended its decision to advance the reform—including at a meeting of the UN
Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2020.
In February, a group of lawyers specializing in cannabis issued argued in a
legal opinion that international drug treaties ought not stand in the way of
moving marijuana to Schedule III. In fact, it said, a move to Schedule III would
better uphold the country’s broader obligations under international law to
regulate cannabis in a way that protects public health and safety.
The new letter to Romney echoes many of that opinion’s arguments.
“The current placement of marijuana under schedule I prevents the U.S. from
ensuring the substance’s availability for medical and scientific research as
required by the Single Convention,” it says. “Reclassification under schedule
III would, therefore, bring the U.S. closer to compliance with Treaty
requirements.”
Meanwhile, HHS has reportedly requested a legal opinion on the implications of
possible marijuana rescheduling from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal
Counsel (OLC), and some suspect it concerns the potential international treaty
consequences. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) has requested clarification on the
request from HHS.
A Democratic congresswoman has separately implored DEA to “reject any argument”
that rescheduling marijuana under federal law would constitute a violation of
international treaty obligations. She also asked the agency to reveal a list of
any “outside partners” it has met with to discuss the global implications of a
potential cannabis reclassification.
The UN’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) did recently reiterate
that it considers legalizing marijuana for non-medical or non-scientific
purposes a violation of international treaties.
Here’s a full list of the groups that signed the recent letter to Romney, as
well as a copy of the letter itself:
* Acreage Holdings
* Ascend Wellness Holdings
* Asian Americans for Cannabis Education
* American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp AYR Wellness
* Bada Bloom
* Balanced Veterans Network
* Cannabist Company
* ConBud
* Cresco Labs
* Dutchie
* Good Day Farm
* Green Thumb Industries
* Hemp for Victory
* Hero Grown
* Holistic Solutions
* Holistic Industries
* Housing Works
* IAVA
* Jushi Holdings
* Justus Foundation
* Kush Culture Industries
* Law Enforcement Action Partnership
* Lume Cannabis Co.
* Major Bloom
* Majority Minority Group Marcu Enterprises Marijuana Policy Project MoodiDay
* National Cannabis Roundtable
* National Hispanic Cannabis Council (NHCC) Native Roots Dispensary
* New York CAURD Coalition
* New York for Social and Economic Equity Perkins Coie LLP
* PharmaCann Inc.
* Phylos Bio
* Physicians Research Center, LLC
* Porter Wright
* PPP Dispensary
* Quality Roots
* Queen City Remedies
* Realm of Caring
* Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance
* Scotts Miracle-Gro
* Simply Pure Trenton
* Tetragram Inc.
* The Bronx Community Foundation
* The Travel Agency: A Cannabis Store
* The Weldon Project
* Trulieve
* Tuatara Capital
* United States Cannabis Council
* Valley Wellness
* Verano Holdings
* Vicente LLP
* Wana Brands
* Wyld
* Veterans Cannabis Project
> Marijuana Rescheduling Could ‘Ease Researcher Access’ For Studies, Federal
> Agency Says In Overdue Report To Congress
Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our
cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon
pledge.
Related Topics:featured
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Ben Adlin
Ben Adlin, a senior editor at Marijuana Moment, has been covering cannabis and
other drug policy issues professionally since 2011. He was previously a senior
news editor at Leafly, an associate editor at the Los Angeles Daily Journal and
a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. He lives in Washington State.
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