GOP Lawmakers Condemn Cannabis Rescheduling, One Calls Legal Weed 'Immoral Industry'

Major pushback against the Biden administration’s proposal to reschedule marijuana is underway as several GOP Congress members escalate their inquiries into what they perceive as an “unusual” review process, while a California House rep goes even further.

What Happened: House Energy & Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Health Subcommittee chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra questioning the integrity of the rescheduling process, reported Marijuana Moment.

The crux of their issue, say Rodgers and Guthrie, is the shift from a five-factor analysis to a new two-factor review for assessing marijuana’s medical use and abuse potential. The change has spurred doubts among some lawmakers about the scientific and procedural integrity behind the move to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.

The lawmakers seem to take exception to the January release of documents related to the HHS's lengthy scientific review of cannabis in which federal researchers found that marijuana has "currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States" and that its "potential for abuse is less than the drugs or other substances in Schedules I and II.”

Read Also: ‘The Clock Is Ticking’ For Cannabis Rescheduling, Says Former Congressman Ed Perlmutter

Legal Weed Is An ‘Immoral Industry' Says House Member

Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa from California also weighed in on the subject, calling marijuana a harmful drug and urged the federal government against allowing “banks to prop up this immoral industry."

"These measures give a green light to the evil that comes from drug use,” LaMalfa said on the House floor. “The addicts will rely on state welfare, disability payments for unemployment—their medical problems will increase, drain our already strained health care system—which taxpayers, you know, are going to front the bill for that."

Rescheduling Is Not Legalizing

Reclassification, while recognizing medicinal properties of cannabis and enabling more research, stops short of federal legalization. It creates a scenario where cannabis exists in a conflicting space with states that have already legalized it. The lawmakers argue that this could deepen the confusion over marijuana policies at the state and federal levels. Advocates say de-scheduling cannabis completely and treating it like alcohol is the answer to that.

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