Will the federal drug enforcement in America have top officials fired because of their recent ill-advised decision about marijuana? Medical marijuana in America will continue to be a struggle for some due to a recent decision by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Despite the approval of many top officials in the American government including former Attorney General Eric Holder (2009 to 2015), reclassifying marijuana into a category that does not include heroin or methamphetamine was not accomplished. Now, America must grapple with the fact that they are caught in a medical cannabis “Catch-22.”
Reasons the DEA did not reclassify marijuana in August 2016
After several months of deliberation, the DEA decided not to reclassify marijuana in August 2016 after holding off on making the decision for over a year. There were other times that reclassifying marijuana was put in a federal context, but when a case went before The Supreme Court, they said they did not want to try a case that could lead toward the legalization of marijuana across America. Subsequently, when the DEA wanted to make their decision, their main reason for not reclassifying marijuana outside of Schedule 1 drugs that include heroin, was because they said they found there was no medical use for marijuana.
Why The DEA is hypocritical about their marijuana decision
When the DEA made their announcement and it was negative toward medical cannabis or marijuana, the public was outraged and many top officials called the DEA hypocrites. Mainly, the reason there has not been many studies of medical marijuana is due to the tight restrictions placed on studying marijuana because the DEA has classified it as a Schedule 1 drug. Obviously, this makes no sense to anyone except the DEA, and there could be an unexpected outcome in the near future that changes these events.
How the DEA might be forced to change its decision on marijuana
Although the DEA is an entity within the United States government, there are others that are more powerful. Inevitably, the decision not to reclassify marijuana could mean that lawmakers are able to authorize these studies without the DEA involvement. For example, there have been several advocates for medical cannabis that are former U.S. military personnel, and while studies about marijuana might be prohibited for the general public, the military often has their own set of guidelines for conducting medical research. What is strange in this case is that the DEA itself approved a medical cannabis study for veterans around April 21, 2016.
What it means when states have legal marijuana but not federal approval
Eventually, America may see that the DEA is full of bullies that are only looking to line their own pockets, and the ability to tax marijuana will eventually win over spending money on a drug war no one wants. For example, the DEA is making a convenient argument to not reclassify marijuana and that allows for them to continue their practices of destroying marijuana crops in states where it is legal and also subsequently stealing all of the money of the growers or sellers during the raid. This is especially troubling because having marijuana illegal on the federal level means that banks will not allow marijuana sellers or growers to put their cash crop money in their banks because the federal government could seize the entire bank for being involved with what the DEA calls an “illegal drug trade.” On top of this, the DEA also charges the American taxpayers and in 2015, they asked for 18 million dollars to fund their war against the 25 states that have legal marijuana.
