3 ms·

Isn't the DEA under the authority of the Executive branch, i.e. the President?

• deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
• rhizome 9y ago
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/02/26/can-eric-holder-change-the-federal-drug-classification-of-marijuana/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/02/... explains the situation pretty well. Relevant commentary, I think: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2009/04/have-you-ever-legalized-marijuana.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2009/04/have-you-ever-legali...
  • bluejekyll 9y ago
    Wow, they're hamstrung: > HHS determined that marijuana has a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States,” leading the DEA to reject the petition in 2011. The petition was filed nearly a decade earlier, in 2002. So based on a request from 2002, they decided in 2011 not to act, which continues to restrict research, which makes it harder to get evidence to support a new petition... Sometimes you gotta just love government's ability to tie itself in knots.
    • rhizome 9y ago
      It's worse than that: HHS has to tell the DEA "there is a medical use for this" for the DEA to reschedule something at their command. The trick? Schedule I prohibits federal funds from being used for research, so how is HHS ever going to be able to do the work to conclude there is a medical use for a Schedule I substance?