The Trump admin is taking public comments on cannabis rescheduling

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Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

Now’s your chance to tell the Trump administration how you feel about cannabis’ legal status. The administration is currently accepting public comment regarding the “potential global reclassification” of cannabis ahead of a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna, Austria. You can submit here.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended last month that cannabis be reclassified, which is important. Cannabis was classified in a treaty that was signed all the way back in 1961.

“The placement of cannabis in the 1961 treaty, in the absence of scientific evidence, was a terrible injustice,” Michael Krawitz, a U.S. Air Force veteran and legalization advocate who has pushed for international reforms, told Forbes. “Today the World Health Organization has gone a long way towards setting the record straight. “It is time for us all to support the World Health Organization’s recommendations and ensure politics don’t trump science.”

Sanho Tree, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and director of its Drug Policy Project, told Cannabis News Box that it’s wrong that we’re still relying on that antiquated treaty. “The UN’s Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was signed in 1961,” Tree said. “Imagine any politician today using the norms of 1961 to talk about women, LGBTQ, indigenous peoples, POCs, etc. The world has evolved. Drug laws haven’t.”

Tree said the UN is starting to be forced to modernize, and it’s about time. Drug policy in the 1960s and 1970s was very much based on racism, a lack of scientific understanding and more that should not be playing a role in how we draft drug policy today.

“It is stunning to think we’ve been locked into the racism, ignorance, and hysteria of 1961 when it comes to drugs,” Tree said. “Every other aspect of our lives has evolved except this seemingly immutable treaty.”

Paul Armentano, the deputy director of NORML, told Cannabis News Box he is hoping that the conference will take WHO’s recommendation to reclassify cannabis seriously.

“Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence have recommended amending the classification of cannabis under international law,” Armentano said. “One hopes that member nations will heed these recommendations rather than play politics with this decision.”

It’s unclear how the Trump administration would respond to a vast majority of the public saying cannabis should be declassified, but legalization advocates believe it’s important that people express their support for reclassifying the drug. If enough people come out in favor, it might surprise the administration enough to make it reconsider its drug policy views. We already know the vast majority of Americans support legalization in some form.