WASHINGTON – At 11:59 PM Eastern Time on July 22, the public comment period for the Biden Administration’s proposed rule to reschedule marijuana closed, resulting in a total of 42,925 comments. While the Department of Justice proposes shifting from Schedule I, the most restrictive schedule on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), to Schedule III, a less restrictive schedule, 69% of comments support federally decriminalizing marijuana or descheduling it.
A final analysis of available public comment data, conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) at 2 PM ET today, resulted in the following findings:
- 69.3% or 29,750 of comments support descheduling, decriminalizing, or legalizing marijuana at the federal level;
- 42.4% or 18,207 comments mention the need for federal marijuana reform to advance racial justice or social equity; and
- 24% or 10,327 comments were submitted through a public comment tool hosted by United for Marijuana Decriminalization (UMD), a coalition that DPA convenes. These comments were the result of months of grassroots outreach to communities that have been impacted by marijuana criminalization.
The overwhelming support for descheduling marijuana, meaning removing it from the CSA entirely, underscores the limitations of a shift to Schedule III, which would result in tax benefits for marijuana businesses and potential changes to research restrictions, but would ultimately maintain federal criminalization and its associated harms.
In response to these findings, Cat Packer, Director of Drug Markets and Legal Regulation for DPA, released the following statement:
“Participation in public comment processes gives the American public a chance to speak from personal experience and provide feedback on proposed legal changes – and it gives the federal government an opportunity to adjust their proposals to reflect public opinion. When it comes to the DOJ’s proposal to reschedule marijuana, public opinion could not be clearer. 29,750 comments, nearly 70% of all comments, support federal decriminalization or legalization because rescheduling is simply not enough. The people are demanding the Biden Administration do more to deliver on the marijuana reforms that communities deserve – and that President Biden and Vice President Harris themselves have promised on numerous occasions.
“Our analysis of public comment data shows that not only do over two-thirds of Americans who participated in the public comment process demand more than just cannabis rescheduling, but 42% recognize that ending federal criminalization is key to achieving racial justice and social equity. This is something that the Biden Administration has repeatedly identified as a priority in their marijuana reform efforts. However, under Schedule III, communities of color would still face disproportionate harms and lifelong consequences from federal marijuana criminalization. Under Schedule III, people could still be jailed or deported for marijuana violations, even in states where it is legal. Under Schedule III, people could lose their jobs, their housing, their SNAP food stamp benefits, or even lose custody of their children for marijuana violations. If the Biden Administration wants to be responsive to public opinion and live up to their own stated values of racial justice and repair, marijuana must be federally decriminalized and additional actions must be taken to end the lifelong collateral consequences that result from marijuana criminalization.
“This is a galvanizing moment for our movement for drug policies grounded in health, equity, and reinvestment. Even if cannabis rescheduling ultimately happens through this process, there are additional actions that President Biden and Congress can take. In the coming weeks and months, we will continue working with our allies to urge President Biden to take a whole government approach to advance equity in federal marijuana policy and mitigate the harms of criminalization. That means expanding pardons and commutations, protecting state marijuana programs, and directing federal agencies to cease punishing people for marijuana use. We know that the people and the evidence are on our side. It is time that our federal government listened.”
Cannabis rescheduling background
Under a shift to Schedule III on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), most criminal penalties for marijuana would continue at the federal level, including those for simple possession. President Biden pledged to federally decriminalize marijuana use and expunge marijuana records of the 2020 campaign trail, and both Biden and Harris have touted marijuana reform as a significant accomplishment of their first term. However, the Administration’s actions to date fall short of the promises they made to voters. The Biden Administration has not decriminalized marijuana use or released anyone in prison for marijuana, expunged any records, or reduced prison sentences for anyone incarcerated for marijuana. Under Schedule III, research restrictions are expected to change, and marijuana businesses would receive tax parity, but criminalization and its harms, barriers, and associated racial disparities would remain. For the many individuals and communities that will remain criminalized under this new classification under federal law, moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III is simply not enough.
Despite the limitations of cannabis rescheduling, the President can take action on marijuana reform through the executive branch. Through UMD’s public education and outreach strategy and other coalition efforts, they are demanding that President Biden and his administration take additional actions to follow through on his pledge to federally decriminalize marijuana. Biden can also endorse Congressional legislation that would deschedule marijuana and address the harms of marijuana criminalization, such as the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act in the House and the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) in the Senate.
Methods
At 2 PM ET on July 23, 2024, two DPA staff members exported 42,910 public comments that had been posted in response to the DEA’s proposed rule to reschedule marijuana. They then conducted independent analyses to analyze the data. Below is a summary of the methods they used.
First, the analysts identified comments that were submitted in bulk using prominent public comment tools that support descheduling, including the one hosted by United for Marijuana Decriminalization, which submitted 10,327 comments through its tool. Then, the analysts manually scanned comments for key search terms to ensure that most comments including the search terms were not only mentioning the terms, but in favor of those terms. Next, using Python, the analysts input the search terms to identify comments in support of descheduling. They repeated the process to identify comments that demonstrated support for federal marijuana reform to address racial justice and social equity. Finally, the instructions and comments were run through Chat GPT to confirm the accuracy of the results.
To assess support for descheduling, key search terms included: deschedule, descheduling, de schedule, de scheduling, de-schedule, de-scheduling, unschedule, unscheduling, un schedule, un scheduling, decriminalize, de criminalize, de-criminalize, decriminalizing, de criminalizing, de-criminalizing, remove from schedule, remove from the schedule, remove from CSA, remove from the CSA, remove from controlled substances act, remove from the controlled substances act, please legalize, rescheduling is not enough, need to legalize, I support legal, legalize marijuana, legalize cannabis, declassify, declassification, time to legalize, just legalize it, should be legal, should be fully legal, should be fully removed, should be completely legal, should be removed, legalize!, legalize it!, legalize it, make it legal, take it off, support cannabis legalization, treated like alcohol, needs to be removed, needs to be fully legal, I support full legal, I support fully legal, full federal legal, complete federal legal, and full legalization.
To assess support for racial justice and social equity, key search terms included: social justice, racial justice, racial equity, social equity, racial disparity, racial disparities, racism, racist, drug war, war on drugs, disproportionate impact, unjust, disproportionately target, marginalized communities, people of color, and injustices.
About the Drug Policy Alliance
The Drug Policy Alliance is the leading organization in the U.S. working to end the drug war, repair its harms, and build a non-punitive, equitable, and regulated drug market. We envision a world that embraces the full humanity of people, regardless of their relationship to drugs. We advocate that the regulation of drugs be grounded in evidence, health, equity, and human rights. In collaboration with other movements and at every policy level, we change laws, advance justice, and save lives.
About United for Marijuana Decriminalization
United for Decriminalization (UMD) is a coalition of leading drug policy and cannabis industry advocacy organizations concerned that cannabis rescheduling will not achieve President Biden’s stated goal of decriminalizing marijuana and ensuring no person is arrested for possession of cannabis in the United States.
