The Office of National Drug Policy (ONDCP) director Dr. Rahul Gupta, often referred to as President Joe Biden’s appointed “drug czar,” spoke about the ongoing discussion of rescheduling cannabis.

In a recent interview with Star Tribune on May 24, which was originally featured in the news outlet’s free email newsletter, the first question inquired about Gupta’s “main takeaway” in regard to federal rescheduling. “We’ve had a policy for over half a century where so many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana,” Gupta responded. “We’ve had so many people arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated. We know white, Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, but Black and brown incarceration rates are higher.”

He cited Biden’s October 2022 announcement to pursue pardoning cannabis offenses and instructing the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department (of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the current schedule category that cannabis is positioned in. Now that request has been acted upon through the HHS in August 2023, with more recent moves suggesting progress within the Drug Enforcement Administration as well, Gupta commented on the importance of what happens next. “This is going to be really important to remove barriers to critical research and perhaps drug development, and it could also lead to more research into the benefits of medical marijuana,” he said. “Clearly this decision is going to have a historic and long-lasting impact.”

When asked if Gupta could offer clarity in how federal law enforcement will alter their prioritization of cannabis, he referred to other substances that are included in the Schedule III classification and thus have much lower priority, such as Tylenol with codeine and testosterone. “It will have an impact on racial disparity, incarceration and prosecutions,” he said. “And whether in Massachusetts or West Virginia or Texas, Americans should be able to get treatment for their condition.”

It’s important to note the differences between rescheduling cannabis and federally legalizing cannabis. Rescheduling cannabis doesn’t include approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which means that it can still lead to cannabis-related prosecution. Furthermore, the status of cannabis as a federally illegal substance means that incarcerations and prosecutions will continue if or when cannabis is rescheduled to a Schedule III substance.

In another interview between WGCU and Gupta published on May 20, he suggested that Schedule I substances have no approved medical use, but anything categorized between Schedule II-V “can be prescribed when appropriate by a licensed provider who has a DEA registration…” However, the FDA hasn’t approved cannabis as a medicine overall, just a few exceptions with drugs derived from cannabis.

The Star Tribune subject shifted to the topic of banking, but preferred to refer the question to others involved more closely in that discussion. “We do know the drugs that are Schedule III are in legitimate interstate commerce within the federal system. I’ll leave it to others to talk about the commercial process,” he said. “The focus for the president has been making sure Americans are able to get the help they need no matter where they live, and on the other side making sure we’re not [harming] people.”

One of the final questions in the interview asked that if a new president is elected later this year, how this entire process of rescheduling could be paused, canceled, or reversed. “The president has given the opportunity to Congress to take action; he did because he could wait no longer,” Gupta said. “The independent reviews of these agencies followed established processes and procedures in getting to this result. That process is driven through science. I can’t provide any hypothetical answers to what may happen. This is a change that is driven by policy, by science, by data, regardless of the political process.”

He concluded the interview by restating how the president is following through with his promise to help the people avoid being incarcerated. “The president has been very consistent: No one should be in jail for using or possessing marijuana,” Gupta said. “These steps to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III is a policy that is consistent with science in the 21st century.”

Former ONDCP director Gil Kerlikowske, who served under former President Barack Obama between 2009-2014, recently spoke on the podcast Sagely Speaking with Mary Bono on May 13. Kerlikowske’s response to Biden’s approach to rescheduling cannabis was more negative. “It’s not medicine. This is all Big Cannabis,” Kerlikowske said. “This isn’t people my age that are just old hippies that want to open up a pot shop somewhere. This is a huge business like Big Tobacco. Absolutely.”

He explained that the HHS decided not to reschedule cannabis due to no evidence of health three years ago, but now has changed its tune, with the DOJ expected to follow suit. Later on in the discussion, Kerlikowske compared the rise of cannabis to the rise of Big Tobacco.

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The top official overseeing Illinois’ cannabis policy is leaving the public sector to join the weed lobby. 

Toi Hutchinson, who has served as a senior adviser to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for cannabis control, announced this week that she will be taking a job with the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), billed as the “the number one organization in the U.S. dedicated to legalizing cannabis,” as the group’s new president and CEO.

“I’m pleased to be joining the team at MPP, where I will continue my years-long effort to develop and support cannabis legalization legislation that centers on equity and repairing the harms of the past,” Hutchinson said in a press release on Wednesday. “We are incredibly proud of the hard work and lessons learned in Illinois, standing up programs to invest in equity entrepreneurs, reinvesting in communities and clearing hundreds of thousands of arrests and criminal records.”

Pritzker, a Democrat, saluted Hutchinson on Twitter.

“For over two years, Toi Hutchinson has been my foremost advisor on cannabis: making Illinois’ industry the most equitable in the country,” Pritzker said in a tweet on Monday. “While I’m sad to see her go, it was an honor to have her lead this charge. Toi, Illinois is a better state because of your public service.”

A former Democratic state senator in Illinois, Hutchinson, was appointed to the cannabis advisory role in Pritzker’s administration back in 2019. The Chicago Tribune reported at the time that the governor’s administration had initially defined Hutchinson’s role as “Illinois cannabis regulation oversight officer,” which was often referred to as the state’s “pot czar.”

But Hutchinson’s title was eventually changed to “senior adviser to the governor on cannabis control.” As The Tribune reported then, it was “unclear when the decision was made to give Hutchinson the senior adviser title,” but that “appointing her to the job created in legislation she voted on could have run afoul of the state constitution.”

Whatever the reasoning, Hutchinson’s has been an omnipresent figure in the state’s rollout of the recreational cannabis program, which was created when Pritzker signed the historic legislation into law in the summer of 2019.

Illinois Focuses on Equity

Along with clearing the way for cannabis sales, Illinois’ new law has also resulted in thousands of pardons for individuals who were previously busted and convicted on low-level pot charges.

After signing the bill, Pritzker said that the new law would herald an end to “the 50-year-long war on cannabis,” and restore the “rights to tens of thousands of Illinoisans.”

“Illinois has done more to put justice and equity at the forefront of this industry than any other state in the nation, and we’re ensuring that communities that have been hurt by the war on drugs have the opportunity to participate,” Pritzker said last year. 

Hutchinson echoed that.

“I’m proud to work with Governor Pritzker in creating equity in the cannabis industry in a way that no other state has done,” Hutchinson said at the time. “By expunging hundreds of thousands of cannabis-related records, reinvesting the money spent on adult-use cannabis in Illinois into communities that are suffering and making equity a central focus of the cannabis licensure process, the administration is ensuring that no community is left out or left behind.” 

The new program has also brought a windfall to Illinois, with the state reporting that it generated $582,226,511.45 in revenue from recreational pot sales in 2020, its first full year since the new law took effect. 

Hutchinson said that the “successful launch of the Illinois legal cannabis industry represents new opportunities for entrepreneurs and the very communities that have historically been harmed by the failed War on Drugs.”

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