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 U.S. 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 make the amendment in order for a floor vote.
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 offenses—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 he or she “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
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