Today, Americans have been thrown under the canna-bus by the President’s Executive Order calling on his Administration to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug.  
 
Contrary to the Administration’s comments, marijuana is already extensively researched, with over 4,000 scientific studies released yearly. The truth is that recent studies only confirm the link between cannabis use disorder and increased schizophrenia, psychosis and suicide.
 
Eagle Forum President Kris Ullman issued the following statement:
 
Sadly, this Executive Order will not promote law and order or the health and safety of Americans. As the President rightly noted, rescheduling will not make marijuana legal. Then what will it do?  It will allow marijuana to be treated as if it were legal.
 
We believe President Trump’s decision to reclassify marijuana is a grave mistake for public health unless the President follows through on his pledge to enforce law and order.
 
President Joe Biden’s disastrous immigration policies deserved robust criticism, as his open borders flagrantly ignored the enforcement of current immigration laws. Thankfully, President Trump is now enforcing those laws.
 
The same standards for drug enforcement must be held just as high. If reclassification of marijuana is genuinely meant to improve the quality of research, the President can continue to save our communities by enforcing current drug laws.
 
Our recommendation: Enforce federal drug laws against every “recreational” marijuana program and hold states responsible and liable for damages. For every “medical” marijuana program, place them under immediate FDA review. Stop allowing states to break our federal drug laws and harm our children.
 
Earlier this week, the President issued an Executive Order designating fentanyl as a ‘weapon of mass destruction,’ due in part to the involvement of foreign criminal cartels. We applaud him for going after these illegal drug operations. Sadly, large-scale illegal pot farms have been linked to both Mexican cartels and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owned businesses. More than 80% of the illegal marijuana operations shut down in Oklahoma since 2020 were linked to Chinese organized crime rings.
 
Instead of going after the foreign and domestic marijuana growers, producers, and sellers who are violating federal laws, rescheduling marijuana will provide tax deductions for business expenses like rent, salaries, and even advertising to our kids. The marijuana industry is estimated to receive over $2 billion in annual federal tax breaks from this change.
 
Public support for pot is falling for rescheduling and recreational use. Over 70% of Trump supporters are less likely to support rescheduling once they learn that foreign cartels will receive tax benefits and pot shops will get financial incentives to market to children.  Voters in Massachusetts and Maine are moving to reconsider the laws that legalized recreational pot in their states — indicating a shift in public support.
 
Rescheduling marijuana sends the wrong message that marijuana use is somehow acceptable and is counter to the strong anti-drug message for which President Trump is well known. In contrast, the EO says that marijuana has medical value when, in fact, the FDA has never approved inhaled or ingested marijuana as a medical product. We know that ‘medical marijuana’ regimes are nothing more than recreational marijuana in disguise. The increase in hospitalizations and treatments of cannabis use disorder in states with medical marijuana laws proves this.
 
The bottom line is this - downgrading pot will reward the Big Marijuana industry with tax breaks while causing incalculable risks to public health and safety.  America’s schools, roads, workplaces, and communities are less safe the more cannabis is present. Extensive research has been and continues to be done, and Congress eased research burdens in 2022.
 
After decades of disastrous effects in states that have ignored federal drug laws and ‘legalized’ pot, Americans are reconsidering their support for the drug. Mothers and fathers across the nation have reached out to express their opposition to marijuana rescheduling and seek protection of their communities and children from the scourge of cannabis.
 
More information on Eagle Forum’s advocacy against marijuana can be found here.