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A leading marijuana prohibitionist group says it’s retained the legal services of President Donald Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, to sue to reverse federal marijuana rescheduling if and when the pending rule is finalized. And they’ll also be filing a petition through the administrative process to keep cannabis strictly prohibited.
Trump earned bipartisan applause last month when he signed an executive order directing the current attorney general to complete the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The policy change wouldn’t legalize marijuana, but it would formally recognize the plant’s medical value, allow marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions and remove certain research barriers.
Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Kevin Sabet called the move a “full betrayal” of the president’s “promise to keep all Americans safe and health” that amounts to a giant gift to Big Marijuana and its pushers who are now more incentivized to target children with their highly addictive products.”
“This rule, if finalized, will herald a public health disaster,” he said. “Thankfully, this decision does not legalize marijuana, but it gifts the industry with more than $2 billion in tax write-offs at a time when their advertising is inflicting carnage on America’s families.”
SAM described the reform as a “pyrrhic victory for the industry”—and one that they intend to fight with the legal assistance of Barr, who now serves as a partner at the firm Torridon Law.
Barr’s firm previously represented SAM last year in asking the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to extend the public comment period for the cannabis rescheduling proposal.
Because current Attorney General Pam Bondi has not yet signed off on the proposed rescheduling rule, which is the product of a scientific and legal review initiated under the Biden administration, no lawsuit has been filed yet. But should that happen, Sabet said SAM intends to sue in the court system while also petitioning DEA to move cannabis back to Schedule I.
Sabet said that advocates have “failed in their attempt to legalize their products, banking, and they were dealt a huge blow with the new law outlawing Delta-8 and other synthetic pot products.”
While there was some speculation that the executive order Trump signed would include a directive for Congress to pass a bipartisan marijuana banking bill, there weren’t expectations that the president would push for outright legalization through that action.
Hemp stakeholders did get unwelcome news when the president signed a spending bill in November with provisions banning most consumable hemp products, but Trump also described a plan to revise the law to allow for full-spectrum CBD products—including those that could be covered under Medicare for certain patients.
Sabet also noted that advocates are “facing increased pressure in legalized states, with several now considering a rollback of such policies.” That includes proposed partial repeals of voter-approved legalization laws in Maine, Massachusetts and, most recently, Arizona.
“Our two grassroots-led campaigns to repeal the commercial sales of marijuana in Maine and Massachusetts have already seen success, with more than 74,000 Bay Staters signing up in support and sending the measure to the state, where it will enter legislative review in January. It’s time to turn back the tide.”
One of SAM’s chief arguments against rescheduling is their claim that, by allowing state-licensed cannabis operators to take federal tax deductions available to other industries, the modest reform would enable them to further expand in a way that would widen availability of marijuana products.
To that end, the organization worked with bicameral GOP lawmakers on a billed titled “No Deductions for Marijuana Businesses Act,” which would continue to block cannabis businesses from taking those federal tax deductions under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code 280E, regardless of rescheduling.
“The struggle for sane public-health policy is a long and difficult one. We have won major victories in it and will continue to do so. Marijuana belongs in Schedule I under the terms of federal law,” Sabet said, adding that rescheduling means “the legalizers have failed in fully legalizing marijuana—but we must fight on. And we will.”
Back in September, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) hosted the SAM president for an event focused on cannabis use trends and youth prevention, giving the organization a prominent platform for a discussion that largely promoted an anti-reform agenda.
SAM and 21 other prohibitionist groups also recently filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging justices to uphold the constitutionality of a federal gun ban for people who use cannabis—which they claim is associated with violence and psychosis.
Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.
Kyle Jaeger is Marijuana Moment’s Sacramento-based managing editor. He’s covered drug policy for more than a decade—specializing in state and federal marijuana and psychedelics issues at publications that also include High Times, VICE and attn. In 2022, Jaeger was named Benzinga’s Cannabis Policy Reporter of the Year.
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