The Office of National Drug Control Policy is prohibited by law from studying or lending support to the potential benefits of marijuana. But a bill introduced in Congress this week would change that by allowing the U.S. drug czar, who heads up the agency, to study the potential benefits of cannabis legalization.
Authored by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), the Unmuzzle the Drug Czar Act, as the proposed law is called, would remove crucial language from the ONDCP Reauthorization Act of 1998.
Here's what the bill would strip from the existing measure:
[The drug czar will] ensure that no Federal funds ... shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in Schedule I [of the Controlled Substances Act] and take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of substance (in any form) that ... (A) is listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812); and (B) has not been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration.
Cohen made headlines last week when he grilled deputy drug czar Michael Botticelli on the ONDCP's inability to use its expertise to look at the "science" of marijuana. "You should be able to participate and set our drug policy straight. Your job should be to have a sane drug policy, not to be muzzled and handcuffed," Cohen said.
During the hearing, Botticelli admitted that he didn't "know the background" of the law that prohibits his office from supporting marijuana legalization.
Some say it's high time that the ONDCP amended its stance regarding marijuana, noting that public opinion has come a long way since 1998, when the law was passed requiring the agency to oppose pot legalization.
"Back then it wasn't difficult to pass things like that," said Sanho Tree, the director of the Institute for Policy Studies' Drug Policy Project, which works to end the war on drugs. "Drugs have been a reliable GOP wedge issue for years, but now it's become a boomerang that's come around and hit them in the head. The climate on marijuana legalization has fundamentally changed."
The ONDCP, which was created by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, advises the President on drug control issues and coordinates drug control activities and funding.
Some drug war opponents have criticized the agency's way of giving out drug war cash.
"The ONDCP facilitates lots of federal grant money that is given out to state and local police departments, and the strings attached to that money are, 'You have to use this to prosecute the war on drugs,'" said retired Superior Court Judge Jim Gray, a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a nonprofit that advocates for drug law reform. "That, in effect, bribes states and cities to continue this failed policy. They're addicted to the money."
Marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule I drug alongside narcotics like heroin and ecstasy, which are described as having no medical benefits and a high potential for abuse. Even cocaine and methamphetamine are classified as being less dangerous than pot.
Nevertheless, 20 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the drug to treat a range of medical conditions -- from glaucoma and HIV to depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, New York will have a limited medical marijuana program up and running within the next couple of years, and a number of other states have made moves recently to legalize the drug.
On Wednesday, a group of 18 congressmen sent a letter to President Obama asking him to classify marijuana "in a more appropriate way." The letter cited the billions of dollars wasted and lives destroyed by marijuana prohibition.
Cohen's bill, which is being sponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), has been assigned to the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Energy & Commerce committees.
Before You Go
“I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be," he said back in 2000 in an interview with Rolling Stone. "We really need a re-examination of our entire policy on imprisonment.”
He's since spoken about the issue of marijuana and drug prohibition a number of times. Last year, he appeared in the documentary, "Breaking the Taboo," where he argued that the war on drugs has been a failure.
“I don't want to promote that but I also don't want to put people in jail who make a mistake," Paul said. "There are a lot of young people who do this and then later on in their twenties they grow up and get married and they quit doing things like this. I don't want to put them in jail and ruin their lives."
"I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol," Robertson said in an interview with The New York Times in 2012. "I've never used marijuana and I don't intend to, but it's just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn't succeeded."
Robertson has made similar remarks on his "700 Club" show before, but the Times, like many others, perhaps felt they must have misheard him.
“[T]o me, marijuana is no different than wine," he said in an interview with High Times. "It's a drug of choice. It's meant to alter your current state -- and that's not a bad thing. It's ridiculous that marijuana is still illegal. We're still fighting for it ... It comes down to individual decision-making. There are millions of people who smoke pot on a social basis and don't become criminals. So stop with that argument -- it doesn't work.”
[H/T Marijuana Majority]
From his campaign platform:
"By managing marijuana like alcohol and tobacco - regulating, taxing and enforcing its lawful use - America will be better off. The billions saved on marijuana interdiction, along with the billions captured as legal revenue, can be redirected against the individuals committing real crimes against society."
“Marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry," he said in an interview with High Times. "My wife says, and I agree with her, that what would be really great for Maine would be to legalize dope completely and set up dope stores the way that there are state-run liquor stores.”
[H/T Marijuana Majority]
While marijuana has been made legal for various uses in a number of states, the Obama administration continues to enforce federal laws across the nation. This has led to numerous raids of marijuana-based businesses, as well as prosecutions of growers and other people involved in pot.
"I think it's about time we legalize marijuana," he said. "We have to make a choice in this country. We either put people who are smoking marijuana behind bars or we legalize it, but this little game we're playing in the middle is not helping us, it is not helping Mexico and it is causing massive violence on our southern border."
"Decriminalization does not result in increased drug use. Portugal's 10 year experiment shows clearly that enough is enough. It is time to end the war on drugs worldwide. We must stop criminalising drug users. Health and treatment should be offered to drug users - not prison. Bad drugs policies affect literally hundreds of thousands of individuals and communities across the world. We need to provide medical help to those that have problematic use - not criminal retribution."
"I don't tend to say this publicly, but we can see it's a curative thing. The narcotics industry is also enormous. It funds terrorism and - this is a huge problem in America - fuels the foreign gangs," he said. "More than 85 percent of men incarcerated in America are on drug-related offences. It costs $40,000 a year for every prisoner. If they were really serious about the economy there would be a sensible discussion about legalization."
While Obama and his administration have responded to state marijuana reforms by saying they must enforce federal laws against marijuana, the president has the power to reschedule the drug, which would allow federal authorities to shift resources away from a prohibitive approach.
"However, I think we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts," Palin said. "If somebody's gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems we have in society."While Obama has spoken repeatedly about not being interested in prosecuting small-time marijuana users, he hasn't done anything to prevent them from being busted by law enforcement in states where the drug is still illegal.
In 2012, the former president said he was fine with state legalization efforts, though he himself doesn't necessary support legalizing the drug.
“As president 35 years ago I called for decriminalizing -- but not legalizing -- the possession of marijuana,” Carter said. “Since then, U.S. drug policies have been very horrible to our own country because of an explosion in prison populations.”
"I don't have a problem with states experimenting with this sort of thing I think that's the role of states," Cuccinelli said, according to Ryan Nobles of WWBT.
“The proof will be in the policy. The war on drugs has gotten a really bad rap, when you ask people if they support the war on drugs they say no ... [Obama's] budget once again has the same old drug warrior policy ... I reject the assumption that everybody who is using drugs needs treatment or is an addict and needs to get arrested ... Not all drug use is abuse.”
He's kept up the fight for drug policy reform since.
[H/T Marijuana Majority]
“We've been fighting the war on drugs since the '60s. And guess what? Trillions of dollars later, we are losing," Sharpton said during a segment on MSNBC. "When you look at the disparities in sentencing drug offenders, hasn't this kind of injustice undermined the legitimacy of our criminal justice system?”
[H/T Marijuana Majority]
Tancredo continued, “The arguments against marijuana today are the same as the arguments against liquor years ago.”
Years later, the former congressman agreed to smoke pot on camera with a documentary filmmaker, a deal that he later backed out of.
