Tell The FDA To Reschedule Cannabis Now: You Have Until March 14th
On March 1st, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) opened a public commenting period for citizens to send their feedback on rescheduling of cannabis.
Specifically, the FDA is looking for feedback from “interested persons to submit comments on the notifications from the United Nations concerning these drug substances,” writes FDA acting associate Lowell J. Schiller in a public notice published in the Federal Register last week.
The FDA will be gathering comments to present them at a United Nations global drug policy hearing, where the US representatives will be given the opportunity to vote on the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on whether or not to reschedule CBD, THC, and cannabis based on international drug treaties.
“The comments received in response to this notice will be considered in preparing the United States’ position on these proposals for a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna, Austria,” reads the filing.
If you send in your comments and voice the importance of rescheduling cannabis, you can play a very important role in shaping drug policy. Make your voice heard before 11:59pm Eastern Time of March 14th, 2019 by clicking on this link, and clicking on “Comment Now!”.
The FDA, together with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (in behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services) will be considering the comments. The Department of Health and Human Services will then send in a recommendation to the Secretary of State about how the US will be voting with regards to the WHO endorsement.
The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs is expected to convene on March 18-22.
Work In Progress
Sending in your comments is no guarantee that cannabis will be rescheduled, and this may not be the last time that the Trump administration will ask for public comment on the regulation of cannabis. However, it is still of utmost important that we take advantage of every opportunity given to us that allows us to take part in changing the current status of cannabis in the United States.
The World Health Organization has turned a new leaf with regards to their stance on cannabis. Last month, they called on cannabis and cannabis resin to be removed from the Schedule IV category of a drug treaty that dates back to 1961. They also recommended for THC and related substances to be removed from another 1971 treaty.
“The evidence presented to the Committee did not indicate that cannabis plant and cannabis resin were particularly liable to produce ill-effects similar to the effects of the other substances in Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs,” writes the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence. “In addition, preparations of cannabis have shown therapeutic potential for treatment of pain and other medical conditions such as epilepsy and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis.”
“In line with the above, cannabis and cannabis resin should be scheduled at a level of control that will prevent harm caused by cannabis use and at the same time will not act as a barrier to access and to research and development of cannabis-related preparation for medical use,” says the WHO.
The WHO’s endorsements won’t automatically mean that US law will be changed. It also won’t mean that member states of the United Nations will be able to legally sell cannabis without worry of violating international drug treaties. But the approval of WHO’s recommended changes in drug policy will encourage more countries to adopt legal medical cannabis laws, or even do away with prohibition completely the way Canada and Uruguay did.
“At this time, it is uncertain whether the above notification from WHO of recommendations for proposed scheduling action on cannabis and cannabis related substances will be acted upon by 62nd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (from 14 to 22 March 2019),” reads the FDA notice. “The Bureau of the 62nd Commission is currently considering whether to postpone voting on the cannabis-related recommendations until the reconvened meeting in December, or the 63rd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, March 2020.”
It doesn’t hurt to be prepared for any changes within the next few weeks, and some progress is better than nothing.
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