Congress Demands President Obama Reclassify Marijuana

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edited February 2014 in The Social Lounge
“Lives and resources are wasted on enforcing harsh, unrealistic, and unfair marijuana laws,” reads a letter signed by 18 members of Congress asking President Obama to use his authority to remove marijuana from its Schedule I status.

Federal legislators signed, sealed and delivered a letter to the White House earlier this week, requesting that President Obama “instruct Attorney General Holder to delist or classify marijuana in a more appropriate way.”

The letter, which maintains that marijuana being classified higher than ? and methamphetamine “makes no sense,” was inspired by Obama’s recent comments in an interview with The New Yorker, where the president said he did not believe marijuana was more dangerous than alcohol.

The Congressmen wrote they are “encouraged” by the president’s recent statements, and hope he will “take action” to remedy society from the “harms” of marijuana’s federal Schedule I classification.

“Classifying marijuana as Schedule I at the federal level perpetuates an unjust and irrational system,” reads the Congressional letter. “Schedule I recognizes no medical use, disregarding both medical evidence and the laws of nearly half of the states that have legalized medical marijuana.”

Lead author Congressman Earl Blumenauer wrote in a separate statement that reclassifying marijuana “is a step the administration can take to start to rationalize federal marijuana policy to bring it in line with the advances that are happening in the states.”

The Democratic Congressmen who co-signed the letter are Steve Cohen of Tennessee, Sam Farr, Mike Honda, Jared Huffman, Barbara Lee, Zoe Lofgren, Alan Lowenthal, Dana Rohrabacher, and Eric Swalwell of California, Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, James McGovern of Massachusetts, James Moran of Virginia, Beto O’Rourke of Texas, Jared Polis of Colorado, Mike Quigley and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, and Peter Welch of Vermont.

If the president obliges the lawmakers’ wishes, marijuana could be reclassified from the condemnations of it current “dangerous drug…with no medicinal value” label, or be eliminated from the dope ranks altogether, setting the leaf up, once and for all, for full-blown federal legalization.

PROGRESS!!!!!
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