Earlier this month, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) held 11 days of public hearings to help decide whether marijuana should be rescheduled as a less dangerous drug. No evidence was presented to justify rescheduling, and in fact testimony added to the data collected over decades that show that marijuana has no medical value and carries a high risk of abuse, including the use of even more dangerous drugs.
Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr spoke at the hearing, representing Dr. Kevin Sabet, the CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Barr argued that rescheduling pot confuses the public on the issue of safety, would reduce penalties for drug traffickers, and would encourage communities to legalize it in order to obtain a tax windfall at the expense of users. Barr added that many marijuana products are 30 times more potent than pot used in the 1970s, and many products, such as candies, gummies, and ice cream, are designed to appeal to youth. For years Dr. Sabet has warned that the pot industry has modeled itself after “Big Tobacco,” controlling the narrative, hiding the evidence, and buying-off politicians.
