U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) led eight of his fellow GOP colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to reject marijuana rescheduling, which would classify marijuana as a drug with moderate to low potential for dependence and accepted medical use, potentially impacting research, drug approvals, and tax policies, though it does not legalize it.
“Rescheduling marijuana is bad policy, no matter the administration,” Rep. Sessions said on Aug. 28. “The data is clear: marijuana is a dangerous drug that has only become more dangerous over time.”
“That is why I have spent my entire career in Congress opposing the rescheduling of marijuana,” he added. “We must protect our children from predatory marijuana businesses that want to make them addicted consumers for life.”
The congressman and his Republican colleagues, including U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), reiterated that stance in an Aug. 28 letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in which they warned that rescheduling marijuana would deliver a multi-billion-dollar tax break to Big Marijuana, as well as cartels connected to the Chinese Communist Party that operate inside the United States.
According to their letter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2024 recommended that marijuana be transferred from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to Schedule III of the CSA.
“Their decision was met with immediate pushback from experts across the political spectrum who agreed that there is no adequate science or data to support moving marijuana to Schedule III,” wrote Rep. Sessions and the lawmakers. “Marijuana supporters argue that marijuana has no business being in the same drug schedule as heroin, but their argument relies on a misunderstanding of the drug scheduling system.”
For instance, the members pointed out that drug scheduling is not a harm index. Instead, it weighs both potential for abuse and the accepted medical value of a specific drug.
“Marijuana, while different than heroin, still has the potential for abuse and has no scientifically proven medical value,” they wrote, citing 2021 data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse showing that the addiction rate for marijuana is 30 percent.
Rescheduling marijuana would immediately give tax breaks to illegal marijuana dispensaries and cartels to the tune of $2 billion per year, they wrote, and give Chinese drug cartels a tax break, too.
“Marijuana rescheduling will enable criminal activity and harm our kids,” wrote the members. “We don’t want the smell of marijuana flooding every public space, we don’t want our kids being enticed by deceptive marijuana marketing, and we don’t want even more drugs flooding our streets. We respectfully urge you to follow the science and oppose downgrading marijuana.”
Smart Approaches to Marijuana has endorsed the letter.