Marijuana to remain illegal under federal law, DEA says

[ZectixV1]

Marijuana advocates who hoped the cascade of states moving to legalize medical marijuana would soften the federal stance on the drug faced disappointment Thursday as the Drug Enforcement Administration announced it will keep marijuana illegal for any purpose.

Marijuana will remain a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Substances in Schedule 1 are determined by the Food and Drug Administration to have no medical use. States that allow marijuana for medical use or legalize recreational use remain in defiance of federal law.

The announcement to be published Friday in the Federal Register relaxes the rules for marijuana research to make it easier for institutions to grow marijuana for scientific study. The DEA currently authorizes just one grow facility in Mississippi.

In reaching its conclusion, the DEA said a Health and Human Services evaluation shows marijuana has no ‘‘currently accepted medical use’’ because "the drug’s chemistry is not known and reproducible; there are no adequate safety studies; there are no adequate and well-controlled studies proving efficacy; the drug is not accepted by qualified experts; and the scientific evidence is not widely available."

"There is no evidence that there is a consensus among qualified experts that marijuana is safe and effective for use in treating a specific, recognized disorder," the report added.

"At this time," the DEA concluded, "the known risks of marijuana use have not been shown to be outweighed by specific benefits in well-controlled clinical trials that scientifically evaluate safety and efficacy."

On other points, the DEA report noted marijuana has a "high potential" for abuse and can result in psychological dependence. It said around 19 million individuals in the U.S. used marijuana monthly in 2012 and that contemporaneous studies showed around 4.3 million individuals met diagnostic criteria for marijuana dependence.

It did not find, however, that marijuana is a "gateway drug."

"Little evidence supports the hypothesis that initiation of marijuana use leads to an abuse disorder with other illicit substances," the report said.

The decision signals a difficult road ahead for legalization efforts, said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former Obama administration drug advisor. Companies that seek to use marijuana as medicine will have to go through the same rigorous scientific evaluation as traditional pharmaceutical drugs.

"This is a vindication for science and for people who have said to go slow," Sabet said. "I think it’s a bad day for legalization efforts and a good day for scientists."

The DEA's decision ignores the public will and patients' experience with the medical benefits of marijuana, says Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, which advocates for removing marijuana from the drug scheduling restrictions. Congress should bar DEA and other federal agencies from interfering with the implementation of state marijuana laws, Angell said.

"President Obama always said he would let science — and not ideology — dictate policy, but in this case his administration is upholding a failed drug war approach instead of looking at real, existing evidence that marijuana has medical value," Angell said. "A clear and growing majority of American voters support legalizing marijuana outright and the very least our representatives should do is let states implement their own policies, unencumbered by an outdated ‘Reefer Madness’ mentality that some in law enforcement still choose to cling to."

At least eight states will consider marijuana issues in the November election. Voters in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada will consider full legalization. Arkansas and Florida have medical marijuana measures on their ballots. Montana voters will consider a measure to restore the state's medical marijuana law after legislative and judicial actions curtailed the law.

Source

[Poseidon]

I'm actually fairly surprised. I expected it to become legal. But they brought up the point of psychological dependence rather than psychical dependence, which is something I have argued with my family for very long. I have some family members who use it all the time, we argue on the fact that it does become completely psychological.

[Eternity]

Don't really care because I need to make a living so can't use drugs either way and won't risk it.

[Raw]

I live in mass and lot of people smoke weed. You can't even be arrested if you have under an ounce on you. I hope it gets legalized so the price drops, but regardless I could care less.

[bigkitty2]

Eh I can't wait till its legal.

[Dab]

I'm actually fairly surprised. I expected it to become legal. But they brought up the point of psychological dependence rather than psychical dependence, which is something I have argued with my family for very long. I have some family members who use it all the time, we argue on the fact that it does become completely psychological.

School, work, anything can become "psychological". Alcohol, doctor approved medicine, literally everything can be abused and have psychological effects on a person to the point they crave the substances.

Their argument is that of a pleb, they simply do not want to go through the trouble of repealing all the marijuana offenders in prison right now. Plus it gets the police and courts tons of money, and as we all know the GOP is heavily involved with that so they're probably corp artists who are fighting tooth and nail to keep the laws in place.

[Poseidon]

School, work, anything can become "psychological". Alcohol, doctor approved medicine, literally everything can be abused and have psychological effects on a person to the point they crave the substances.

Their argument is that of a pleb, they simply do not want to go through the trouble of repealing all the marijuana offenders in prison right now. Plus it gets the police and courts tons of money, and as we all know the GOP is heavily involved with that so they're probably corp artists who are fighting tooth and nail to keep the laws in place.

Yeah, but the difference is, things like alcohol, doctor medicine, and stuff of that sort also has a psychical need. Where you can't control it yourself but rather your body can no longer properly function without the certain chemical. For example, sleeping pills with melatonin. When you start taking those, you tell your body that it's okay to no longer produce melatonin and that you will give it to it. And when you attempt to get off sleeping pills, your body will essentially have forgotten how to function without those pills and you'll no longer produce melatonin yourself.

[Dab]

Yeah, but the difference is, things like alcohol, doctor medicine, and stuff of that sort also has a psychical need. Where you can't control it yourself but rather your body can no longer properly function without the certain chemical. For example, sleeping pills with melatonin. When you start taking those, you tell your body that it's okay to no longer produce melatonin and that you will give it to it. And when you attempt to get off sleeping pills, your body will essentially have forgotten how to function without those pills and you'll no longer produce melatonin yourself.

Addiction can happen to anything, people can literally be incapable of digesting/processing certain foods or chemicals because of their picky eating habits for example. This argument is not valid because we have the freedom to choose. When it comes to things that are outrageously addictive like heroin or cocaine then yeah it makes sense to regulate it, but marijuana is one of the lesser dependencies of the world. The way it works chemically does not give a physical addiction. Only psychologically can marijuana become addictive, and even then when compared to other substances such as pain killers or alcohol, it's one of the weakest addictions out there. Addiction to video games, work, school, sports, etc... is much more significant on ones health than marijuana which at most will have someone craving the minor dopamine release of it.

Based on everything, caffeine and foods have more addictive properties than marijuana does. Your entire argument is based on the fact it's has addictive properties, but that addictive property is dependent on human psychology which is easily manipulated into being dependent on just about everything, even water and bread. If you want to make the argument marijuana has a physiological dependence then sure that's fine, but to argue that is enough of a reason to continue arresting people for it and holding them in prison for over the top punishments is simply butt-fucking retarded.

Don't come at me with your moral resolve pleb, there are far more important ramifications dealing with the legalization of marijuana than the addictive properties.


The worst aspect of marijuana use is by smoking it, which is directly because of the smoke. It can cause increase mucus, decreased stamina, and several other obvious issues that come from literally inhaling carbon dioxide. That aside, marijuana is a much better alternative to addictive drugs that can absolutely ruin your bodies tolerances to chemicals you shouldnt have tolerance to.

[Logic]

lmao waiting for it to become legal in my state so it can help my mental state of mind.

[Bernard]

I live in mass

Where in Mass?

[Raple]

ya so if every state legalizes it, they can't enforce shit

[Raw]

Where in Mass?

I live around Dartmouth

[Zombie]

ya so if every state legalizes it, they can't enforce shit

Federal laws will always have jurisdiction over state/county laws. If all 50 states deem recreational use of marijuana legal, or even decriminalize it, the DEA can still carry out their corrupt raids on peoples houses, because it's still illegal under federal law. You might try to fight it in court, take it to state level, where then the DEA will take it to the supreme court (aka go running to momma) where they have the upper hand because, again, it's illegal at the federal level.

Also, legalizing weed is far more difficult than decriminalizing

[Raple]

Federal laws will always have jurisdiction over state/county laws. If all 50 states deem recreational use of marijuana legal, or even decriminalize it, the DEA can still carry out their corrupt raids on peoples houses, because it's still illegal under federal law. You might try to fight it in court, take it to state level, where then the DEA will take it to the supreme court (aka go running to momma) where they have the upper hand because, again, it's illegal at the federal level.

Also, legalizing weed is far more difficult than decriminalizing

The government really has no power over certain things that states can do, which is under our implied powers from the constitution. It's the same reason why any state can change the legal drinking age. The government just stops giving them certain funding as like a "fuck you".

[vex246]

Haters gonna hate