norml23 - Page 61
Page 61
Previous ,
Next ,
Original Image
Return to Index
full range of scheduling options indicated by the Court.
HEW states that its "final reason for preferring Schedule I is
that Congress itself placed marijuana in Schedule I. Therefore, in our
view the arguments for pJacement in Schedule I[ must be stronger than
those for placement in Schedute _ to justify placement in Schedule _1."
44 Fed. Reg. at 36127 Co[. 3. HEW has, in fact, created a presumption
that each controlled substance should remain in the schedule Congress
initially c_assified it in.
Defendant has found no justification for this presumption in the
legislative history of the CSA, and the entire scheme of the Act
militates against such a view. The Act requires a series of findings to
be made about a substance, and then on the basis: of these findings a
decision is made on which Schedule the substance most appropriately
fits into. This involves balancing a number of considerations and
factors, based upon the best information available at the time. It
would not be consistent with this scheme to believe that Congress in-
tended that its placement of a substance in I970 would forever remain
the presumed correct classification°
There are two additional reasons, unique to marUuana, which
indicate that there can be no presumption that it must remain in Sche-
dule 1. First, when Congress origina[Jy passed the CSA, it clearly
indicated that there was a substantial question on how to classify
marijuana, and the classification in Schedule _ was intended as a temp-
orary measure, pending the completion of a number of reports, including
the report of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse,
which was created in the CSA to answer these unresolved questions.
H.R. Rep. No. 91-14.44 states at pages 4578-79:
In the bill as recommended by the
administration and as reported by the committee,
marijuana is listed under schedule [, as subject to
the most stringent controls under the bill, except:
that criminal penalties applicable to marijuana
offenses are those for offenses involving
non-narcotic controlled substances.
The committee requested recommendations from
the Department of Health, Education and Welfare
concerning the appropriate location of marijuana in
the schedules of the bill, and by letter of August
14, 1970 printed in this report under the heading
Previous ,
Next ,
Return to Index