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Potential marijuana change falls short for advocates

Recent news that the Department of Health and Human Services is recommending the rescheduling of marijuana has renewed scrutiny of President Biden's campaign promise to decriminalize cannabis use.

But advocates and policy experts say such a move — should the Drug Enforcement Administration accept the recommendation — wouldn't fix the plethora of racial justice issues, make marijuana more accessible to patients who could benefit or even stop future criminalization.

Rescheduling "doesn't address the over-policing, it doesn't address the immigration issues, it doesn't address the access to federal services, and it's not in alignment with what 38 states have done to regulate and legalize," said Natacha Andrews, executive director for the National Association of Black Cannabis Lawyers.

Under its current Schedule I designation, marijuana is rated among the most harmful substances, on par with methamphetamines and more severe than fentanyl.

This designation means authorities consider the drug to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. A shift to Schedule III would signal the federal government's acknowledgement that marijuana has some medical uses.

But it wouldn't change its status as a prohibited substance or decriminalize marijuana use.

Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, said rescheduling doesn't deal with the larger issue of racial disparities in cannabis prohibition enforcement.

"White folks and African Americans tend to use cannabis at roughly the same rates," O'Keefe said. "Despite that, we see more than three times as many arrests for cannabis possession by Black individuals as we do for white individuals. We see these disparities at every level — at searches, stops, arrests, sentencing and incarceration, and we also have some cases where law enforcement were very explicitly motivated by racism."

Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

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