In recent years as public opinion on marijuana has shifted and the science on the drug becomes more settled and accepted, the DEA has stuck with its anti-marijuana stance.
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At a meeting with reporters this week at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration, acting chief Chuck Rosenberg said that “heroin is clearly more unsafe than marijuana”, Matt Ferner of the Huffington Post reports. Rosenberg said he still considers marijuana to be “harmful and unsafe”, but was willing to make a make a firm distinction between it and other substances.
But recently the DEA made an admission that chips away at marijuana’s position among the most strictly regulated drugs in the country.
Other topics at the event included the escape of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman from a Mexican prison, cartel violence, synthetic drugs and internal management issues, says Payne, who couldn’t recall particular points Rosenberg made in contrasting heroin and marijuana. It is clear to the American people, scientists and researchers that marijuana should not be categorized as a Schedule I drug. Do I think it’s as risky as heroin? Probably not. I’m not an expert.
Rosenberg’s predecessor, Michele Leonhart, refused to acknowledge during direct questioning from Congress that marijuana possesses fewer risks to health than either heroin or methamphetamine. It’s considerably less habit-forming than heroin, alcohol, nicotine and other drugs. But it’s a departure from the equivalence between the two implied by the DEA’s previous rhetoric and policy.
In fact, some of that pressure is already growing within the federal government itself.
For instance, at a 2014 congressional hearing, former DEA administrator Michelle Leonhart declined to say whether or not marijuana was less risky than heroin or crack, and drew extensive criticism for her refusal, reported The Washington Post.
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Recreational marijuana has been legalized in four states and the District of Columbia, and 23 states have legalized the plant for medicinal purposes. For now, federal law still prohibits the drug and until that legislation is changed, the agency will continue to regard marijuana use as a criminal offense.
