General Assembly asks federal delegation to deschedule marijuana

The following letter was sent to Sen. Chris Coons, Sen. Tom Carper and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester before Delaware’s marijuana bills became law.

We are writing to request that, as our congressional delegation, you would give careful consideration to supporting federal legislation that would deschedule marijuana in our nation.

To support this request, the Delaware Senate approved (March 9) Senate Resolution 11, urging our delegation to deschedule the substance. Through its passage, SR 11 recognizes that marijuana does not belong in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, a classification intended for exceptionally dangerous substances with high potential for abuse and no medical use. 

Other key highlights of SR 11 include the following important facts:  

• Under the Controlled Substance Act, drugs, substances and certain chemicals used to make drugs are classified into five distinct categories or schedules depending upon the drug’s acceptable medical use and the drug’s abuse or dependency potential 

• Schedule I drugs, substances or chemicals are defined as drugs with no current accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse

• Marijuana (cannabis) is classified as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin, though marijuana has many well-documented medical uses. According to the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, modern medical research has confirmed the beneficial uses for marijuana in treating or alleviating the pain, nausea and other symptoms associated with a variety of debilitating medical conditions, including cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS

• Marijuana has many accepted medical uses in the United States, having been recommended by thousands of licensed physicians to at least 350,000 patients in states with medical marijuana laws

• There are approximately 5.4 million state-legal patients in the U.S. and its territories who are unable to receive medical insurance prescription health coverage for medical marijuana, primarily due to the drug’s federal designation

• In its State of the States 2021 report, the advocacy group Safe Access Now estimated that medical marijuana customers at states’ dispensaries were likely to pay as much as $350 before they could access and pay the cost of marijuana

• Marijuana is not an eligible health savings account expense because the drug is illegal under federal law, even if it’s being used for medicinal purposes

• Due to the current federal designation, monies that can be traced back to a state marijuana operation could be considered aiding and abetting a federal crime and money laundering

• Most financial institutions are unwilling to accept this risk, meaning medical marijuana distributors have limited access to traditional banking and financial services, and are forced to operate in cash 

• Operating a business with large amounts of cash on hand is a public safety threat, as these establishments become targets for crime, putting the safety of staff and patients at risk; for example, while dispensaries make up less than 1% of Denver businesses, they accounted for 10% of all reported commercial burglaries from 2012-16.

Your careful consideration of our request that you begin to take legislative action to deschedule marijuana on the federal level is very much appreciated.

We look forward to promptly hearing back from your offices on our request.