Moments ago, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, AG Holder was asked about the Department’s approach to the rescheduling issue.
Rep. Cohen asked Mr. Holder the following:
On April 29, Federal District Court Judge George H. Wu issued a 41-page written sentencing order stating that medical marijuana provider Charles C. Lynch was “caught in the middle of the shifting positions” on the question of marijuana for medical use, and that “much of the problems could be ameliorated…by the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I.” Will you share your thoughts with the Committee about how your Department will approach the rescheduling question?
AG Holder’s response was rather predictable (if you’ve been paying attention):
Our approach is to look at the marijuana issue in it’s totality. Mexican cartels get most of the revenue from trafficking marijuana. So far as state medical marijuana laws are concerned, we will not use federal resources to target medical marijuana patients or their providers. Instead, we will be focusing on major traffickers.
It’s not exactly the answer we had hoped for. However, we applaud Rep. Cohen for taking the issue up during this time. (Note: This was an especially timely question because the rescheduling petition is waiting for DOJ review).
