It was reported in the Denver Post today that Colorado is asking the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana.
I haven’t seen the letter from the Colorado Department of Revenue yet, but I can tell you what’s wrong with the one sent by Washington and Rhode Island. There are two ways of going about this. The first way is the scientific review of the 8 factors in 21 U.S.C. § 811(c). The second way is the fact states have the right to determine accepted medical use in the United States under 21 U.S.C. § 812(b)(1)(B). Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 (2006). I’ve seen how the DEA applies those 8 factors before, and none of them says anything about whether a state has accepted marijuana for medical use. Without a demand that the DEA acknowledge states’ rights to accept the medical use of marijuana, these petitions will take forever and they will be denied when it’s all said and done, just like the U.S. Commission on Marihuana was ignored in 1972 and DEA’s Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis Young was ignored in 1989.