Not as bad as heroin. Not as bad as the DEA.
Wonders
never cease:
It’s finally happened – the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has admitted that marijuana is “clearly” safer than heroin. Though this isn’t news to science, it represents a small but significant shift in the DEA who had previously refused to acknowledge that marijuana is less dangerous than heroin.
The science has been clear on the matter for a while. Not only is marijuana safer than heroin, but drug experts broadly agree that it’s also safer than alcohol. Yet, both drugs continue to be Schedule I controlled substances. According to the DEA, marijuana and heroin “have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.”
The DEA’s acknowledgment follows a recent study released earlier this week that has challenged previous research linking teenage marijuana use with physical and mental health issues. Research on marijuana has been widely conflicted for the last few decades due to different methodologies and various factors that are difficult to control for.
The DEA's budget soared from $75 million in 1973 to $3 billion in 2014.
Throughout its lifespan, the DEA has killed innocent people, including teenagers. Corrupt agents have made millions, on occasion stealing bundles of cash during drug busts. The list of DEA violence and corruption goes on and on.
The agency also has spent years rejecting the scientific evidence that marijuana should be taken off the Schedule I list of proscribed substances. Which has meant millions of people—that's not hyperbole—have had their lives ruined by being jailed or imprisoned or otherwise sanctioned for possession or sale of the weed. Student loans and other government aid continues to be denied for people convicted of marijuana-related crimes.
So, hip, hip, hurray that after more than four decades of reckless, murderous, ruinous policies backed up by lies of commission and omission, a tiny bit of sanity has appeared at DEA HQ.
Perhaps we'll see some sanity appear elsewhere in the federal government soon and this corrupt and obsolete agency will be dismantled and Americans whose lives have been upended from sentencing for drug crimes that shouldn't be crimes will have their terms commuted and the stigma of criminality expunged from their records.
But I won't be making any wagers on such an outcome.
