A GOP congressman has filed an amendment that’s aimed at undermining the ongoing marijuana rescheduling process.
The measure, which Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) is seeking to attach to a bill focused on fentanyl, would strip the United States attorney general’s authority to facilitate drug-scheduling decisions and block the use of a revised scientific review standard for “currently accepted medical use” that was utilized in a still-pending cannabis rescheduling proposal.
Clyde filed the amendment ahead of a House Rules Committee on the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act, or HALT Fentanyl Act. It’s currently unclear if the Republican-controlled panel will advance the amendment.
While the underlying bill would also streamline research into Schedule I drugs like marijuana and certain psychedelics—in addition to increasing penalties related to fentanyl-related convictions—the congressman’s amendment would stipulate that the attorney general delegate scheduling decisions to the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), further specifying that they “may not delegate any such functions [of drug scheduling] to any other officer or employee of the Department of Justice.”
This appears to be responsive to criticism from anti-cannabis legislators about the process initiated under the Biden administration to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Historically, it’s been the head of DEA who signs off on proposed rescheduling rules. Historically, it’s been the head of the DEA who signs off on proposed rescheduling rules. In this case, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland approved it, contributing to suspicions that DEA leadership opposed the reform, despite serving as the designated “proponent” of the rule.
In May 2024, Clyde and Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) demanded that then-DEA Administrator Anne Milgram answer questions about why she broke “decades of precedent” by not signing a proposed marijuana rescheduling rule.
Apparently to that end, Clyde’s amendment to the HALT Act states: “Before a proposed or final rule relating to the scheduling of any substance under this Act is published in the Federal Register, such rule shall be signed by the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency and such rule shall have no force or effect unless such rule is so signed.”
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GOP Lawmaker Tries to Use Fentanyl Act to Block Marijuana Rescheduling
