Former U.S. Attorneys Cite Greater Potency of Today’s THC Drugs, Rise in the Illicit Market and Cartel Activity Following State-Initiated Legalization
(WASHINGTON, DC) – More than two dozen former U.S. Attorneys from across the nation, who served under Republican and Democratic administrations, have authored a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram voicing their opposition to the potential rescheduling a marijuana.
Among the concerns cited in the letter by the former U.S. Attorneys, the rise in marijuana addiction rates, now at 30 percent; the dramatic rise in THC potency, now reaching up to 99% THC; and the drug’s lack of accepted medical use. The former U.S. Attorneys also noted that drug cartels continue to generate substantial profits on illicit sales, even in states where marijuana and THC drugs are “legal.”
“Almost no one has benefitted from legal weed, but there is one group coming out on top: drug cartels. Many states have enacted home-grow marijuana laws, which led to cartels growing marijuana in the United States to cut trafficking costs. As marijuana becomes more normalized, the cartels continue to make money on illicit sales,” the letter states.
“Medical professionals, scientists and now the nation’s former top law enforcement officials all agree that rescheduling marijuana would be a dangerous move, especially at a time when our nation is experiencing an addiction and mental health crisis,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, the president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a former White House drug policy advisor to Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton, who organized the letter from the former officials. “We should encourage research, but it need not be at the expense of normalizing and glamorizing marijuana further than it already is.”
The letter goes on to make the case that, “Reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III will harm public health and safety. Making marijuana Schedule III would allow the industry, which relies on an addiction-for-profit model to make money, to deduct business expenses, as they would no longer be subject to IRS regulation Section 280E. This means marijuana corporations would be able to deduct expenses for advertisements appealing to youth and the sale of kid-friendly marijuana gummies. We can’t afford to create a new Big Tobacco that targets kids. Placing marijuana in Schedule III will allow the industry’s commercialization ability to explode.”
“Almost every day there is a new study or report about the risks associated with and serious consequences of using today’s THC drugs and marijuana. We know today’s high-potency THC drugs are associated with lower IQ, psychosis, depression, suicidality, motor impairment, psychosis and schizophrenia, among other consequences. Rescheduling marijuana will put the commercial drug industry on steroids and make it even worse for those suffering from addiction,” Sabet stated.
A copy of the letter can be found HERE.
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