Rep. Cohen asks AG Holder about Rescheduling
May 13th, 2010Posted by Caren Woodson
Moments ago, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, AG Holder was asked about the Department’s approach to the rescheduling issue.
Rep. Cohen asked Mr. Holder the following:
On April 29, Federal District Court Judge George H. Wu issued a 41-page written sentencing order stating that medical marijuana provider Charles C. Lynch was “caught in the middle of the shifting positions” on the question of marijuana for medical use, and that “much of the problems could be ameliorated…by the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I.” Will you share your thoughts with the Committee about how your Department will approach the rescheduling question?
AG Holder’s response was rather predictable (if you’ve been paying attention):
Our approach is to look at the marijuana issue in it’s totality. Mexican cartels get most of the revenue from trafficking marijuana. So far as state medical marijuana laws are concerned, we will not use federal resources to target medical marijuana patients or their providers. Instead, we will be focusing on major traffickers.
It’s not exactly the answer we had hoped for. However, we applaud Rep. Cohen for taking the issue up during this time. (Note: This was an especially timely question because the rescheduling petition is waiting for DOJ review).
May 13th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
[...] « Rep. Cohen asks AG Holder about Rescheduling [...]
May 14th, 2010 at 4:43 am
If that was all the AG said, then Rep. Cohen let him off the hook. The questions should have been much more specific, such as: “When is the DOJ going to act on the rescheduling petition that has been pending for 5 (or more?) years?” and “What specifically is your position on rescheduling marijuana?”
The AG’s answer about “look[ing] at the marijuana issue in it’s [sic] totality” dodges the question. We’re not talking about the marijuana issue in its totality. We’re talking about safe access for qualified medical patients. We’re talking about moving marijuana out of Schedule I. That’s where the AG should have been pressed.
“Mr. Holder, can you honestly sit there and say that marijuana has no medical value?” That’s the question.
The rescheduling issue has nothing to do with Mexican cartels or the state marijuana laws. It’s the most flimsy reed upon which the opposition to safe access rests.
You can “applaud” Rep. Cohen all you want, but I think he missed a golden opportunity to advance the debate.
May 15th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
I agree. When will the govt. finally admit that the propoganda and lies no longer work??? It works with the uneducated, but not those of us who are aware of the scam of prohibition. There are too may of us patients who know that cannabis medicine works for our conditions, and too many positive studies on the cancer fighting/killing properties of the natural plant.
It is almost sickening to hear the same old, dodge it, statements that some of these higher level govt. officials so quickly let slide off their tongues, and then never fully address the issue. They have been programmed to say these things, and the uneducated believe it.
Free thinking people rock.
May 15th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Mr. Scales is most right on this. We are not talking about marijuana in its totality. We are talking about sick, suffering patients having to live in fear of being arrested, prosecuted and jailed for trying to ease their suffering with a safe, effective, natural herbal medicine.
We are talking about the government staying out of our examining rooms when we visit our doctor. Stay out Uncle Sam.
We are talking about the fact that our federal government, in its usual manner, oversteps its authority. No where does our constitution give the right to determine what we put in our bodies to the government.
In fact, our constitution states quite clearly, “powers expressly granted to the government, rest with the people”. We are missing the fact that our federal government does not have the right, nor the authority to deny a natural plant to anyone in this country.
Let’s stop applauding them for constantly violating our rights, and take them back. Cannabis is my medicine, I need it for my liver to function normally and to live in far less pain than I would otherwise, so Uncle Sam, forget you. I will exercise my constitutional rights as a citizen and decide for myself. You can change the laws or not, I will continue to follow God’s law and use cannabis and you can take that to the bank.
I will not stop using cannabis. I will not be afraid of our government, and I will exercise my rights as an American citizen. Power to the people!
May 15th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Stop the Madness……………
May 17th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Cannabis saved my life!I KNOW it Works where pills do not!!
May 20th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Schedule I Cannabis is a damned lie. There is NO excuse for the continued “arbitrary and capricious” mis-classification of the medicinal herb. Fix the law or watch it be repudiated.
-Richard Paul Steeb, San Jose California