DEA CANNABIS RESCHEDULING

PUBLIC COMMENT VIEWER

Here is a random public comment on the rescheduling of cannabis to Schedule III from kenneth johns.

Housing is a human right, but too many people are denied access to this fundamental need because of their criminal record. I urge the Drug Enforcement Agency to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, a move that would mark a step toward rectifying the harms caused by its criminalization. By descheduling cannabis, the federal government would be following the lead of 31 states that have already decriminalized the drug. In fact, the majority of people in the U.S.—70 percent, according to a November 2023 Gallup poll—support cannabis legalization. But rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, as the Department of Health & Human Services and the DEA have proposed, is insufficient. If cannabis remains on the CSA, people can continue to face penalties at the federal level for possession, including arrest and incarceration, which lead to a lifetime of consequences that impact someone’s ability to secure employment, housing, public benefits, educational opportunities, and more. The criminalization of cannabis—a legacy of the War on Drugs—was a policy decision rooted in racism. In the decades since, its enforcement has been disproportionately targeted at Black people and other people of color. It’s time to abandon this draconian approach. I support descheduling cannabis from the CSA—a step toward righting the wrongs of its criminalization.

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