Republican Senators Ted Budd (NC) and James Lankford (OK) have put forward an effort to block President Trump’s reclassification of marijuana.
According to the amendment, “None of the funds made available by this division may be used to transfer marijuana, as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802), from schedule I of section 202(c) of that Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) to another schedule of that section.”
The amendment is part of a funding package that prevents the Justice Department from reclassifying the substance.
After President Trump signed the order in December, Budd said in a statement that rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule III substance “is a shortsighted policy decision that will have detrimental effects on the health and safety of Americans, especially our nation’s youth.”
“We should not be handing tax breaks to bad actors and foreign drug cartels to advertise a drug that will harm Americans,” the senator added.
According to the order: “It is the policy of my Administration to increase medical marijuana and CBD research to better inform patients and doctors. It is critical to close the gap between current medical marijuana and CBD use and medical knowledge of risks and benefits, including for specific populations and conditions.”
The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to expedite the rescheduling process and calls for HHS to develop research methods and models to “improve access to hemp-derived cannabinoid products in accordance with Federal law and to inform standards of care,” a White House fact sheet states.
