Re:Where Pot Entrepreneurs Go When the Banks Say No
by dragonwriter on Friday January 05, 2018 @09:48AM
(#16078858)
> Congress has given DEA full authority to reschedule drugs, and this includes removing them from the schedule altogether.
Not if they are covered by a treaty commitment; in that case, the DEA can change the scheduling but must maintain a certain specified minimum restriction level.
Marijuana is a subject of treaty commitments, and therefore, while it could be moved from the spot on Schedule I where Congress put it when they passed the Controlled Substances Act to replace the Marijuana Tax Act, it cannot be removed from the set of schedules.
Of course, the President could abrogate the applicable treaty, but it's not a marijuana-specific treaty, but the core international narcotics control treaty that the US lobbied for and which is the underlying basis for pretty much all international cooperation on drug enforcement.
The US administration could also lobby for a global change to the treaty to take marijuana out, but the required consensus would be hard to secure even when the US had better international standing than it has today.
Not if they are covered by a treaty commitment; in that case, the DEA can change the scheduling but must maintain a certain specified minimum restriction level.
Marijuana is a subject of treaty commitments, and therefore, while it could be moved from the spot on Schedule I where Congress put it when they passed the Controlled Substances Act to replace the Marijuana Tax Act, it cannot be removed from the set of schedules.
Of course, the President could abrogate the applicable treaty, but it's not a marijuana-specific treaty, but the core international narcotics control treaty that the US lobbied for and which is the underlying basis for pretty much all international cooperation on drug enforcement.
The US administration could also lobby for a global change to the treaty to take marijuana out, but the required consensus would be hard to secure even when the US had better international standing than it has today.