Congressional marijuana reform leaders say that they are encouraged that a top Biden administration official told Marijuana Moment on Thursday that he believes a cannabis scheduling review that he’s overseeing could be completed “this year.”
In the months since President Joe Biden directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice Department to carry out the administrative review, advocates and stakeholders have eagerly waited for a status update. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra finally offered a tentative timeline, saying he hopes to send the president a scheduling decision “this year.”
Three co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus weighed in on the news in statements to Marijuana Moment, expressing cautious optimism that the secretary will follow through with action in the coming months.
“I will be disappointed if we cannot make significant progress within the year,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said. “There should be a greater sense of urgency for this long overdue action.”
Blumenauer also led a letter to Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland in March, alongside 15 other bipartisan members of Congress, demanding transparency in the cannabis scheduling review.
The letter said that Biden’s scheduling directive represents “an opportunity to make honest assessment of the origins
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