The White House drug czar is continuing to tout the Biden administration’s move to reschedule marijuana, criticizing the “failed policies” of prohibition that have “destroyed lives,” while touting the research potential of the reform to develop cannabis-based medications.
Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), discussed the rescheduling efforts during an interview with the Mo News Podcast that was posted on Tuesday.
“We’ve had, when it comes to marijuana, failed policies for more than half a century, because of which way too many lives have been upended,” he said. “We have had a failed approach where we have so many people incarcerated because of it and so many people, their lives have been basically destroyed.”
Gupta aligned himself with President Joe Biden’s position that nobody should be jailed over marijuana possession or use, pointing out that such a conviction can impact housing and job opportunities.
Moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), as the administration is proposing, would not legalize cannabis, however. So people could still face those collateral consequences, even for simple possession, if it is merely reclassified. However, as Gupta pointed out, the reform will remove
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