Colorado Asks DEA to Reclassify Marijuana as Schedule II

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 08:09:22 PM EST
Tags: medical marijuana (all tags)

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The Colorado Department of Revenue joined the short list of two other states asking the DEA to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance. Marijuana is currently a Schedule I controlled substance, a classification reserved for substances deemed to have no medicinal value or a high potential for abuse. From the DEA website:

Substances in this schedule have a high potential for abuse, have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision. Some examples of substances listed in schedule I are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), peyote, methaqualone, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (“ecstasy”).

State law required the Director to write the letter. House Bill 1284, the 2010 law with regulations for medical marijuana, specifies the duties of the state licensing authority. It includes this provision:

"The state licensing authority shall....

....In recognition of the potential medicinal value of medical marijuana, make a request by January 1, 2012, to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to consider rescheduling, for pharmaceutical purposes, medical marijuana from a schedule I controlled substance to a schedule II controlled substance.

[More....]

Another section of the bill states that the state licensing authority is "the executive director of the Department of Revenue or the deputy director of the Department of Revenue if the executive director so designates." Currently, that is Barbara Brohl, who wrote the letter.

The Governors of Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have made the same request.

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Colorado Asks DEA to Reclassify Marijuana as Schedule II | 6 comments (6 topical)

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That's crazy: State's Director of Tax Revenue? (none / 0) (#1)
by oculus on Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 11:19:43 PM EST

Should be state's director of heath services, or medical board or equivalent of DEA.

: I'll take the common sense... (none / 0) (#2)
by kdog on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 08:36:35 AM EST

where it is to be found, in this instance it is found with the taxman. Go figure! ;)

: Should it? (none / 0) (#3)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 09:32:33 AM EST

Let's see--
The medical board has authority over complaints/licensing/certification of HC professionals, not classification of drugs or setting policy thereof.
There is no state equivalent of the DEA. Enforcement is done by the CSP/local task forces and agencies who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
The AG is busy filing suits to back his wingnut agenda and is also a well know opponent of MM.
The Department of Health Care Policy and Finance "administers the Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus programs as well as a variety of other programs for Colorado's low-income families, the elderly and persons with disabilities".
So no, its not "crazy" to have the office that is responsible for the over-site of MM file this.

Oxycontin and Adderall are schedule II (none / 0) (#4)
by diogenes on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 08:05:17 PM EST

Endless pill mills and pill diversion. Manufactured wasted doctor visits and malingering. That is the oxycontin experience. Every other kid I see in his twenties is trying to score Adderall prescriptions for new-found ADHD discovered when he was deep in graduate school.
Just advocate for legalizing marijuana if that's what you really want, and then we'll hear the chorus for legalized oxycontin and Adderall. What I'll lose in the business of prescribing pills I'll get back in the business of drug addiction treatment.

: I don't follow... (none / 0) (#6)
by kdog on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 12:23:20 PM EST

Are you arguing for abolishment of the permission slip system? I agree it is a waste of a doctor and patient's time when they are only going to the doc for a permission slip for your pharmie of choice. They should be legally available for sale to all consenting adults...all drugs. It is an inalienable right.

This has to end up in court, someday (none / 0) (#5)
by SeeEmDee on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 12:09:26 PM EST

Cannabis prohibition is historically based racial and ethnic bigotry, prejudice and pseudoscience...which is allowed to stand because those officially enabling cannabis prohibition have never been held to account for supporting policies based upon those 'qualities'.

Bring the matter into court, using both the historical racially bigoted context and the literal fork-lift load of scientific studies that prove the prohibitionists wrong, and you will finally force these guys who've been riding the tiger for so long to step down and be eaten by it.

Drug prohibition in this country has been a trillion dollar, multi-generation national policy built on lies. One that has continued and will continue until those lies - and those disseminating them at great cost, fiscal and otherwise, to this country - are legally punished for telling them.

Such a trial would be on the same level, politically, socially etc. as the famous Scopes trial, and have the same impact of changing society. And it's long overdue. All we need is a modern version of Clarence Darrow to step up and take a crack at it.