On Monday, the White House drug czar acknowledged marijuana’s therapeutic potential in pain treatment and stated that the Biden administration remains committed to incremental reforms such as cannabis descheduling. He went on to say that the president believes current federal marijuana policies “have not worked.”
He also addressed how Biden’s annual budget proposals have kept a rider that prevents Washington, D.C. from legalising commercial marijuana sales in the nation’s capital, despite his campaign pledge to respect states’ autonomy to set their own cannabis policies, putting the onus on Congress to enact policy change.
During a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on Monday, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Rahul Gupta fielded a series of cannabis-related questions. While the administration has been chastised for failing to follow through on President Joe Biden’s marijuana reform campaign promises, Gupta stated that he is aware of the policy issues that exist under the status quo of federal prohibition.
One notable exchange occurred in response to a question from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who pressed the official on the apparent “contradiction” that marijuana remains a federally prohibited substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) despite growing evidence that the plant’s constituents can treat chronic pain in a way that is safer than less strictly regulated opioids.
On Monday, the White House drug czar acknowledged marijuana’s therapeutic potential in pain treatment and stated that the Biden administration remains committed to incremental reforms such as cannabis descheduling. He went on to say that the president believes current federal marijuana policies “have not worked.”
He also addressed how Biden’s annual budget proposals have kept a rider that prevents Washington, D.C. from legalising commercial marijuana sales in the nation’s capital, despite his campaign pledge to respect states’ autonomy to set their own cannabis policies, putting the onus on Congress to enact policy change.
During a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on Monday, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Rahul Gupta fielded a series of cannabis-related questions. While the administration has been chastised for failing to follow through on President Joe Biden’s marijuana reform campaign promises, Gupta stated that he is aware of the policy issues that exist under the status quo of federal prohibition.
One notable exchange occurred in response to a question from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who pressed the official on the apparent “contradiction” that marijuana remains a federally prohibited substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) despite growing evidence that the plant’s constituents can treat chronic pain in a way that is safer than less strictly regulated opioids.
“There is evidence to suggest that cannabis can be efficacious in cases of certain chronic pain,” Gupta, who previously provided consulting services to a cannabis company prior to serving in the White House, said.
Under current law, the ONDCP is prohibited from funding “any study or contract relating to the legalisation (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in Schedule I” under the Controlled Substances Act. Despite Gupta’s admission to the contrary, one of the key criteria that has kept cannabis in Schedule I is the government’s insistence that marijuana has no established medical value.
Federal law also requires the director of the ONDCP to “take such actions as are necessary to oppose any attempt to legalise” marijuana or other Schedule I drugs, making his remarks about cannabis’s medical benefits all the more noteworthy.
The Schedule I classification of marijuana “prevents scientists and researchers from conducting rigorous, large-scale studies on cannabis,” Khanna said in the exchange. Meanwhile, most opioid-based painkillers are classified as Schedule II under the CSA.
“Do you see this as a contradiction that needs to be resolved, Dr. Gupta?” Khanna inquired.
“Clearly, the president has been very clear about decriminalisation,” Gupta said. “But it’s also critical that we continue to look at this from a research and medical use standpoint.” But clearly, our marijuana policies in this country have not worked, and the president has stated as much.”
In an interview published earlier this month by the Financial Times, the ONDCP director made similar remarks, adding that the administration is actively “monitoring” states that have legalised marijuana to inform federal policy.
“I know you have to be careful not to get ahead of the president—that your responses are appropriately diplomatic,” Khanna said. “However, the president has the authority to direct the DEA, HHS, and FDA to consider administratively rescheduling marijuana, which would facilitate research and patient access.”
“I’m for legalizing—or, at the very least, decriminalizing—but the president could make sure it’s rescheduled so it’s not more restrictive than opioids themselves” in terms of research, the congressman said.
While Khanna asked the director to privately urge the president to take certain administrative steps to ease cannabis research barriers, Gupta simply stated that “it is the foundation for so many ways to proceed forward, including our current strategy, to follow science, follow data—and I can commit to you that we will continue to do that.”
“I would just hope that you and the administration seriously consider rescheduling and look at what can make a difference in patients’ lives and resolve this disparity, where currently cannabis, which is actually more effective and isn’t killing thousands of people, is more restrictive than the opioids that have done so much harm in American life,” Khanna said.
Gupta previously told the Financial Times that the government is “learning from those states [that have enacted cannabis reform]” and “monitoring the data and attempting to see where things go.” But one thing is certain, and the president has stated it repeatedly, our marijuana policies have not been effective.”
During the Monday hearing, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) pressed the drug czar on cannabis policy, expressing frustration that the Biden administration has continued to propose budgets that keep intact a spending bill rider prohibiting D.C. from using local tax dollars to implement commercial marijuana sales, despite District voters approving legalisation in 2014.
The congresswoman expressed “extreme disappointment” in the administration’s decision to keep that appropriations language in its last two budget requests and stated that she would submit a written question for the record. Gupta did address the issue, though he delegated responsibility to the legislative branch.
“I understand it’s with Congress,” the director said, “and I’ll leave it at that.” “However, the president has been very clear that he supports decisions regarding marijuana legalisation being left to individual states—but at the federal level, he has supported decriminalisation of marijuana use and automatic record expungement.” And part of the reason is because of incarceration disparities.”
However, after more than a year in office, Biden has come under fire from lawmakers and advocates for failing to take meaningful action to reform federal cannabis policies, which he advocated for during the campaign.
Throughout Monday’s hearing, Gupta also discussed broader drug harm reduction policies. He emphasised the administration’s commitment to investigating alternative approaches to substance abuse.
Gupta mentioned in an earlier interview that one of the specific harm reduction policies under consideration is the possibility of allowing people to use currently illegal drugs in a medically supervised environment to prevent overdose deaths and help people access treatment resources.
While the Biden administration continues to investigate the clinical efficacy of such facilities, Gupta stated that a proposal to lift the current federal ban is on the table. The remarks also come amid ongoing legal action against the Justice Department, which was recently due to respond in a federal case involving the legality of safe consumption sites, which arose as a result of a challenge to a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, before the response deadline was extended.
Late last year, New York City opened the first sanctioned harm reduction centres, and officials have already reported positive results in terms of saving lives. The facilities have yet to face a federal challenge, as the Safehouse in Philadelphia did during the Trump administration.
In February, the Department of Justice stated that it is “actively evaluating supervised consumption sites, including discussions with state and local regulators about appropriate guardrails for such sites, as part of an overall approach to harm reduction and public safety.”
Gupta previously stated that it is critical to investigate “any and every option” to reduce overdose deaths, which could include allowing safe consumption sites for illegal substances if evidence supports their effectiveness.
