By Douglas Clark | July 8, 2022 | Cannabis Banking
Financial Regulation News
A group of lawmakers have forwarded correspondence advocating the Biden administration deschedule cannabis and pardon non-violent cannabis-related offenders. U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ed Markey (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a letter to President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra regarding the request.
“It is obvious that cannabis has widely accepted medical benefits, affirmed by medical and scientific communities both here and across the globe,” the legislators wrote. “The American Nurses Association, American Public Health Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, and New England Journal of Medicine have all supported legalizing cannabis for medicinal use. The World Health Organization has also recommended reclassifying cannabis from its most restrictive classification under international drug treaties.”
The lawmakers noted medical cannabis aids millions of people nationwide with chronic pain, seizure disorders, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other ailments.
“We commend the administration’s recent pardons and commutations of 78 people, including nine with non-violent cannabis-related offenses,” the senators wrote. “However, much more has to be done to address the racist and harmful legacy of cannabis policies on Black and Brown communities.”
The senators cited statistics showing that Black individuals are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for possession of cannabis, with the statistic increasing to almost 10 times more likely in some states.
“The administration’s failure to coordinate a timely review of its cannabis policy is harming thousands of Americans, slowing research, and depriving Americans of their ability to use marijuana for medical or other purposes,” the legislators concluded. “We ask that the administration act quickly to rectify this decade-long injustice harming individuals, especially Black and Brown communities.”