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U.S. Gov't Will Legalize Marijuana on August 1

poledriver

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U.S. Gov't Will Legalize Marijuana on August 1

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will reclassify marijuana as a "Schedule Two" drug on August 1, 2016, essentially legalizing medicinal cannabis in all 50 states with a doctor's prescription, said a DEA lawyer with knowledge of the matter.

The DEA Lawyer had told the lawyer representing a DEA informant of the DEA's plan to legalize medicinal cannibis nationwide on August 1, 2016. When questioned by our reporter, the DEA lawyer felt compelled to admit the truth to him as well.

"Whatever the law may be in California, Arizona or Utah or any other State, because of Federal preemption this will have the effect of making THC products legal with a prescription, in all 50 states," the DEA attorney told the Observer. Federal Preemption is a legal doctrine that where the US Government regulates a particular field, State and local laws are overridden and of no effect.

He explained that "there are five DEA schedules. Nothing on Schedule One is ever legal, and that is where Cannabis is today. Schedule Two drugs are available with a prescription."

On Schedule Two, marijuana will join drugs like Percocet, Aderall, Oxycontin, Hydrocodone and other drugs that are legal, even common, with a prescription. There are also other drugs that are not on any schedules but that are illegal on a federal level, he said. Drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen are available over-the-counter.

He opined that the 135 medicinal cannabis clinic owners in Los Angeles will no doubt oppose this move by the Federal government, because the rule change will eliminate any reason for people to visit medical marijuana clinics. "In my opinion, CVS pharmacy, Rite-Aid and Walgreens will sell Schedule Two THC products similar to what users call "edibles," but will not sell smokable weed because of the health risk smoking anything entails," said the DEA lawyer.

The Los Angeles based DEA Attorney who spoke to us, asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the press about the matter. He speculated that this action will be taken in the closing days of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, so as to motivate the Democratic base to turn out and vote for Hillary Clinton, and other down ballot candidates. She will certainly not reverse this policy decision taken in the waning days of the Barack Obama administration, he said. But Donald Trump might.

"Marijuana enforcement is a big drain on DEA resources," he said was another reason for the change, noting that a majority of the American public favor the legalization of marijuana for medical use.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is in favor of legalizing marijuana and in fact owns a business which peddles pot in New Mexico.

California will vote on November 7th, 2016, whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Because of Federal preemption, the DEA's reclassification of cannabis as a Schedule Two drug, will have the legal effect of requiring a prescription in California--i.e., it will continue the status quo.

Since the Golden State legalized medical marijuana almost 20 years ago, Federal authorities have occasionally raided medical marijuana clinics here. They have forced major banks, like Bank of America, to close clinic bank accounts. The Feds have even seized real estate belonging to landlords who rent space to pot clinics. The Federal war on medicinal marijuana will abruptly end on August 1, 2016.

UPDATE 6/19 9 a.m. PDT: The Denver Post is now reporting that the DEA could reclassify Marijuana as a Schedule II drug, as early as July 1, 2016. https://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/17/how-the-dea-should-classify-marijuana/

8/01 is the new 4/20!

Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana, can refer to the use of cannabis and its cannabinoids to treat disease or improve symptoms; However, there is no single agreed upon definition, says Wikipedia. The use of cannabis as a medicine has not been rigorously scientifically tested, often due to production restrictions and other governmental regulations. There is limited evidence suggesting cannabis can be used to reduce nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy, to improve appetite in people with HIV/AIDS, and to treat chronic pain and muscle spasms. Its use for other medical applications, however, is insufficient for conclusions about safety or efficacy.

In California, there are "weed doctors" who will write a prescription for cannabis to anyone claiming to suffer from anxiety, which means they passout prescriptions for pot like chocolate bars at a Halloween party. As with so many other trends that started in California, expect to see medicinal marijuana sold in your town soon!

Medical cannabis can be administered using a variety of methods, including liquid tinctures, vaporizing or smoking dried buds, eating cannabis edibles, taking capsules, using lozenges, dermal patches or oral/dermal sprays. Synthetic cannabinoids are available as prescription drugs in some countries; examples include: dronabinol and nabilone.

Recreational use of cannabis is illegal in most parts of the world, but the medical use of cannabis is legal in certain countries, including Austria, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands (where it is also legal recreationally), Portugal and Spain.

In the United States, federal law outlaws all cannabis use, while 25 states and the District of Columbia no longer prosecute individuals for the possession or sale of medical marijuana, as long as the individuals are in compliance with the state's medical marijuana sale regulations.

The DEA lawyer gave us his legal opinion that if you happen to live where recreational marijuana is now legal, i.e. Colorado or Washington State; after August 1, you will need a prescription, as you would need throughout the U.S.

However, an appeals court ruled in January 2014 that a 2007 Ninth Circuit ruling remains binding in relation to the ongoing illegality, in federal legislative terms, of Californian cannabis dispensaries, reaffirming the impact of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The Federal Government will make Marijuana a Schedule Two drug on August 1, 2016, effectively legalizing weed throughout the US. You may be able to buy pot at Rite Aid in Santa Monica by the end of the year.
As explained above, moving marijuana from Schedule One to Schedule Two, would have the effect of legalizing medicinal marijuana, throughout all 50 States, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. This action may be taken by the DEA unilaterally--i.e., without specific Congressional authorization -- because Congress has previously granted the DEA rule-making authority over what drugs are on which schedules.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States. Not only is the DEA the lead agency for domestic enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, sharing concurrent jurisdiction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), it also has sole responsibility for coordinating and pursuing U.S. drug investigations abroad.

http://www.smobserved.com/story/201...will-legalize-marijuana-on-august-1/1484.html
 
How the DEA should classify marijuana

This summer may be a big moment in the national conversation about marijuana. With a decision coming by July 1, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency could partially legalize medical marijuana, and the federal government could usher in a new era with a comprehensive and multi-structural approach to pot policy. Just don’t expect to fill a marijuana brownie prescription at your local drug store any time soon.

Marijuana has been a Schedule I narcotic since 1970. That means, in the eyes of the federal government, marijuana has no medicinal value and is highly addictive. It is illegal under federal law to grow, possess or sell it. To put this in perspective, cocaine is a Schedule II narcotic — legally available under highly restrictive circumstances. The DEA’s options are to keep marijuana as Schedule I or to reschedule or de-schedule it. De-scheduling would allow use for non-medical, recreational purposes like alcohol. Rescheduling would allow use like a regular prescription issued by a physician and filled by a pharmacy under a DEA license, like Codeine. If this happened, marijuana prescriptions would almost certainly be allowed only in traditional medicinal forms, such as pills and extract drops and perhaps topical lotions and nebulizers. It’s unlikely that the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration would allow prescriptions for smokable marijuana or pot brownies and other edibles.

Although legal under state law in more than half the states, marijuana is still illegal federally, and federal law trumps. Since 2009, the federal government has followed a policy of non-enforcement. In short, the federal government is not enforcing federal marijuana laws, as long as anyone involved is in compliance with state marijuana laws. It is akin to the non-enforcement of traffic laws, for speeding a few miles per hour over the limit.

If the DEA keeps marijuana on Schedule I, the federal government risks continued suffering by those with true medical ailments and continued lack of scientific study. The DEA would be wildly out of step with rapidly changing public opinion. If the DEA de-schedules marijuana, big tobacco companies could take over, and the fears of many anti-marijuana advocates would be realized.

Rescheduling marijuana for medical/prescription use, but shutting down the state recreational side, would result in unintended negative consequences. Because prescriptions are not taxed, state and local jurisdictions would lose millions of dollars in tax revenues. Colorado collected nearly $135 million in medical and recreational marijuana taxes and license fees in 2015 on a combined medical and recreational market of nearly $1 billion. With a prescription-only industry, states would lose their current marijuana-related jobs to existing pill-manufacturing companies.

With rescheduling to a prescription-only federal system, the residual state systems will continue to grow. More states will legalize medical and recreational marijuana, and only a small piece of the consumer market would be siphoned off by the marijuana prescriptions allowed through rescheduling. Therefore, the federal government will need a comprehensive approach to a new dual-system era.

All relevant goals and concerns can be addressed with a three-part approach:

1. Reschedule marijuana from Schedule I (completely illegal) to Schedule III (legal for medical purposes, allowed only by prescription). This would only address a small percentage of the current market, as most marijuana in Colorado and other legal states is consumed by smoking, vaping and edibles. Rescheduling would legalize marijuana testing and patient studies for universities.

2. Continue the federal non-enforcement policy for recreational marijuana. Rescheduling for medical purposes would align with the federal government’s current stance towards state-legal recreational structures. Under a dual system, the recreational market would increase rapidly with customer demand for non-prescription smokable marijuana and edibles. Jurisdictions with excise taxes on recreational marijuana would bring in additional revenues for regulation based on federal enforcement priorities.


3. Create a coalition of states to adopt uniform, comprehensive regulation and enforcement for recreational marijuana to address public safety concerns. A coalition of states could create model laws and regulations to create uniformity in packaging, labeling, portion size, marijuana oil extraction safety standards, pesticide use, testing, etc., as well as joint enforcement. The federal government could add its support for public safety and consumer protection by: 1) amending banking laws to allow marijuana businesses to have checking accounts and receive loans, and reduce the crime associated with cash-only businesses; 2) allowing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to award patents and trademarks; and 3) amending the IRS Code to allow marijuana businesses to take standard business deductions.

These reasonable steps address both public safety and public opinion with a reality-based approach to marijuana regulation. This is regulation that works for the people.

Tom Downey is a regulatory attorney in the Colorado law firm Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe. He is the past director of the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe, PC.

https://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/17/how-the-dea-should-classify-marijuana/
 
Alcohol is legal and mj is going to be scheduled two. Just a move to ensure the greedy rich make the profits and control it.

At least the black market will fire back up as most people smoke it.
 
Im sure colorado going to put up a huge fight and will likely just ignore this fed bullshit like we did the last fed bullshit.
 
"Marijuana enforcement is a big drain on DEA resources," he said was another reason for the change,

This guy is so full of shit. The DEA is still highly involved in schedule 2 drugs. Coke, oxy, ferential so this has nothing to do with it. More like the DEA want to try and create a new leg to stand on in prosecuting and harassing cannabis users, sellers and growers.
 
^^ From a traditional Doctor, yes. I agree.

However, I think this will allow for some interesting clinics to open up - similarly to how there are Pain Management clinics, from which it is much easier to obtain CII medications then it would be from a General Practitioner.

Speaking of pain management, I think that anyone who takes CII medications (legally) already, will have a pretty easy time getting Cannabis from the right doctor.

I.E: "Doc, I have found smoking marijuana helps my pain, especially in addition to the opioid I am already prescribed. I have been at this dose of (opioid) for a while now, and it is starting to lose it's effectiveness. Rather than increasing my opioid dose, what are your thoughts on adding a small amount of cannabis to the regimen?"

The amount of cannabis prescribed actually doesn't matter. Even being prescribed an absurdly small amount, like 0.5g per month, will effectively allow the patient to use as much as needed. Any positive drug screens for THC will be nullified, from a legal point of view, and as long as you keep your cannabis in the RX bottle (whether it's the stuff you actually got via the prescription, or if it's "supplemental" herb bought from a friend) and only bring small quantities outside with you, you will essentially be impervious to prosecution.

@NeverSick, I completely agree, that "reasoning" is laughable. Marijuana offenses may represent a large portion of the DEA's efforts, but they are financially motivated...

The DEA saying "Cannabis is a drain on our resources" could be likened to Burger King saying "Raising Cattle is a drain on our resources"...It may take up resources, but it's also your primary source of income
 
He opined that the 135 medicinal cannabis clinic owners in Los Angeles will no doubt oppose this move by the Federal government, because the rule change will eliminate any reason for people to visit medical marijuana clinics. "In my opinion, CVS pharmacy, Rite-Aid and Walgreens will sell Schedule Two THC products similar to what users call "edibles," but will not sell smokable weed because of the health risk smoking anything entails," said the DEA lawyer.
so they want to take money out of small to middle sized businesses to hand it to big corporations. big surprise here
 
The title is misleading. My jaw dropped when I had read just the title, but then I read the first sentence and was like "nah, fuck this". There's already medical cannabis in like half the states, so this is nothing big in my opinion. Even worse, it seems that this may be actually counterproductive to the whole movement, considering what bullshit regulations will be put in place. No smokable cannabis? Fuck me, if the patient wants to smoke their weed, then let them fucking smoke it. It should be up to them in what form to ingest the cannabis, no? And besides, tobacco is perfectly legal and available, so this smells of hypocrisy from miles away.
 
This means we can finally get some real science in here. At surface value it looks like less then most of us wanted but let's not forget schedule 2 means labs can get licensed to work with marijuana it means we may get real medicine out of this.

Don't get me wrong I love smoking weed but that's such an old method of ingestion that who knows what cool NSAIDS or blood pressure medicine can come from this? This is what I wanted, I will continue smoking my weed regardless of how the dea may feel about it but now there's a chance more lives can be saved by it.
 
looks premature anyway...

https://www.leafly.com/news/headlin...-brakes-on-cannabis-rescheduling-announcement

Despite several widely circulated media reports that the DEA is planning to effectively legalize medical cannabis this August, a DEA official said no definite decision has been made.

In an interview published earlier today by aNewDomain, DEA Staff Coordinator Russ Baer declined to confirm the original Santa Monica Observer report that the DEA will reschedule cannabis as a prescription-only Schedule II drug on Aug. 1. “We aren’t holding ourselves to any artificial timeframe,” he said.

The Observer report created a stir over the weekend, and generated many skeptics, based on the fact that staff writer Stan Greene’s story relied only on an anonymous “DEA lawyer with knowledge of the matter.”
 
^ Yeah i wasnt getting my hopes up until an website that is not marijuana oriented reported the story. The first thing i thought when i searched is "the daily chronic" and other weed related sites are not CNN, MSN, or any of the other major networks that would have this at least in their health sections.
 
This means we can finally get some real science in here. At surface value it looks like less then most of us wanted but let's not forget schedule 2 means labs can get licensed to work with marijuana it means we may get real medicine out of this.

Don't get me wrong I love smoking weed but that's such an old method of ingestion that who knows what cool NSAIDS or blood pressure medicine can come from this? This is what I wanted, I will continue smoking my weed regardless of how the dea may feel about it but now there's a chance more lives can be saved by it.

This is what I am looking forward to. Consider the innovation that has been stifled for so long. There are so many alkaloids in the cannabis plant that have not been studied that may have effects beyond our wildest dreams in the medical field. My brother had a cannabis card in new york. Certain strains really helped him with his depression, and when he stopped he didn't get the same withdrawal one gets from traditional antidepressants. This would be a boon in the medical field.
 
I think the thread title should be changed given the current status. I believed it until I started trying to verify it.
 
I was wary of the thread title. Why would a vast organization take actions to limit their funding and shut themselves down?
 
Methamphetamine and Cocaine have long been Schedule II drugs, and, well, considering the war on drugs propaganda peddled by them via the mainstream media over the years, I'd bet that the vast majority of Americans have always believed that both of these substances are totally illegal (Schedule I).

They can chant how it'll open up the opportunity to research weed, but at what price?

I'd carefully and cautiously take whatever promises the DEA makes with an enormous grain of salt. If it were up to me, they'd cease to exist. They are at the forefront of the relentless abuse of predatory practices such as Civil Asset Forfeiture and racial profiling.

Nothing gets done nowadays unless they see a solid potential to routinely make a tidy profit. Greed and capitalism at its worst is what they embody.
 
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