TELL PRESIDENT BIDEN RESCHEDULING IS NOT ENOUGH
WHO WE ARE
United for Decriminalization (UMD) is a coalition of leading drug policy and cannabis industry advocacy organizations concerned that rescheduling will not achieve President Biden’s stated goal of decriminalizing marijuana and ensuring to no person is arrested for possession of cannabis in the United States.
PRESIDENT BIDEN NEEDS TO KEEP HIS PROMISE
Voters took him at his word during his 2020 campaign when he said that he believed that “nobody should be in jail for smoking marijuana”
RESCHEDULING IS NOT A POLICY SOLUTION
President Biden rightly called marijuana criminalization a failure. However, rescheduling marijuana would continue this failure. As long as it remains under the CSA, people could be threatened by federal criminal penalties.
What Is The Controlled Substances Act and Why Must Marijuana Be Removed From It?
The CSA regulates certain drugs under existing federal law into one of five schedules. As a result of its placement in any schedule of the CSA, marijuana is criminalized. Currently, marijuana is a “Schedule 1” drug. This means that the U.S. government has labeled marijuana as a drug with a high abuse risk. They claim it has no safe, accepted medical use. We know from research and anecdotal experience that people find many benefits to using marijuana.
Moving marijuana to a less harsh schedule, such as Schedule III, under the CSA would officially acknowledge the medical benefits of marijuana. However, medical and adult use in legal states would still be illegal under federal law. There would still be penalties for personal use and selling marijuana with or without a license. This includes mandatory minimum sentences. Noncitizens could still be deported simply for working in the marijuana industry, even in legal states. People could still be denied assistance for housing and food if they have a previous conviction
WHAT CAN STILL BE DONE?
FEDERAL DECRIMINALIZATION ROADMAP
“If the DEA decides to reschedule, President Biden and his administration must adopt the following 3-point plan immediately:
President Biden campaigned on decriminalizing marijuana, yet the racialized criminalization persists.
According to data from the ACLU, Black people are 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, notwithstanding comparable usage rates. In 2020, over 350,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana, with the overwhelming majority being for possession alone.
Rescheduling Alone Continues the War on Drugs
1
Rescheduling marijuana alone will not release anyone currently incarcerated for a marijuana conviction or expunge any marijuana-related records. Nor would it address the immigration-related consequences which are a leading cause of deportation of immigrants from the US or restore eligibility for public benefits such as housing and food assistance.
2
Rescheduling alone will not federally legalize the existing medical and adult-use regulatory programs which currently exist in 38 states or state-legal cannabis industry businesses which currently employ over 400,000 workers.
3
If marijuana is only rescheduled with no further guidance, virtually all medical and non-medical use of marijuana currently legal under state law will remain a criminal offense. Although existing cannabis companies would no longer be penalized from a federal tax perspective, all cannabis products including all cannabis plant products, edibles, and topicals, will remain illegal unless individually approved by the FDA.