In Congress, Republicans Swing Against Cannabis Rescheduling

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In Congress this week, Republicans have found several ways to show their discontent with the process underway, at President Joe Biden’s directive, to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III.

One way: Republican lawmakers in the House are using spending legislation to tuck in efforts to block or challenge rescheduling. 

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee passed the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies FY 2025 spending bill, which included language that would prevent the Department of Justice from implementing any change to how cannabis is scheduled.

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to reschedule marijuana … or to remove marijuana from the schedules established” by the Controlled Substances Act, it reads. (You can read the bill here.)

For context, there is a flurry of cannabis-related language making the rounds as spending bills are getting crafted in Congress. But, as has been the case for years, little will make the cut. Nonetheless, the issues put forth for discussion provide a glimpse into the positions of members of Congress on various cannabis-related issues that are unlikely to see hearings or votes any time soon.

And, in the case of the House, Republicans are pushing back against both intoxicating hemp and rescheduling. This week, the House Appropriations Committee passed the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration FY 2025 spending bill, which you can read here. As Cannabis Wire previously reported, the bill contains language that aims to ban intoxicating hemp products. 

The Committee report accompanying the bill, which you can read here, also flags rescheduling concerns. In short, the Committee doesn’t trust the process by which the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration concluded that cannabis should be moved from Schedule I to Schedule III. 

“The Committee is concerned about deviations from established drug scheduling evaluation standards in the FDA 2023 marijuana scheduling review,” they wrote. They then direct the Inspector General of HHS to produce a report on the review that looks at what they say are “deviations from the established five-factor currently accepted medical use test,” whether the “new, two-factor currently accepted medical use test” will “be the standard for all future reviews,” and the “inclusion of research results that are not statistically significant or inconclusive.” 

Another way: letters and public comment.

Also this week, more than two dozen Republicans in Congress sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland – and submitted it as public comment to the Drug Enforcement Administration – further airing their concerns. 

“It is clear that this Proposed Rule was not properly researched, circumvented DEA, and is merely responding to the popularity of marijuana and not the actual science. We urge you to withdraw this proposal and maintain marijuana as a schedule I drug,” they wrote. (You can read the full letter here.)

The public comment window on rescheduling closes on July 22.