{"id":7472,"date":"2017-06-13T18:39:35","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T18:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=2682131"},"modified":"2017-06-13T18:39:35","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T18:39:35","slug":"deputy-attorney-general-rod-rosenstein-from-a-legal-and-scientific-perspective-marijuana-is-an-unlawful-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/deputy-attorney-general-rod-rosenstein-from-a-legal-and-scientific-perspective-marijuana-is-an-unlawful-drug\/","title":{"rendered":"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: \u201cFrom a legal and scientific perspective, marijuana is an unlawful drug.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/deputy-attorney-general-rod-rosenstein-from-a-legal-and-scientific-perspective-marijuana-is-an-unlawful-drug\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Jun 13, 2017, 10:27 am \u2022 Updated: Jun 13, 2017, 11:44 am<span class=\"single-comments-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/06\/13\/rod-rosenstein-marijuana-unlawful-schedule-i\/81433\/#disqus_thread\" class=\"commentsNameLink\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/pwashburn\/\" rel=\"author\">Polly Washburn<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appeared before the Senate Appropriations committee to discuss the Justice Department\u2019s budget, and was faced with questions on law enforcement, the investigation into Russia\u2019s influence on the 2016 election and a question on the Department\u2019s stance on marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Rosenstein\u2019s testimony is especially relevant given the revelation that Sessions has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/06\/13\/jeff-sessions-medical-marijuana-prosecution\/81410\/\">requested congressional leaders to undo federal medical marijuana protections<\/a> that have been in place since 2014, specifically <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/05\/01\/medical-marijuana-hemp-federal-spending-bill\/78700\/\">an amendment contained within the federal spending bill<\/a>. The amendment, previously known as \u201cRohrabacher-Farr,\u201d now co-sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, prevents the Justice Department from using funds to hinder the implementation of medical marijuana laws in U.S. states and territories.<\/p>\n<p>Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski used part of her time to ask about marijuana, and the tension between federal law, under which cannabis is illegal, and states like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/tag\/alaska\/\">Alaska which have legalized recreational<\/a> as well as medical marijuana. <\/p>\n<p>Rosenstein\u2019s response: \u201cWe do have a conflict between federal law and the law in some states. It\u2019s a difficult issue for parents like me, who have to provide guidance to our kids\u2026 I\u2019ve talked to Chuck Rosenberg, the administrator of the DEA and we follow the law and the science. And from a legal and scientific perspective, marijuana is an unlawful drug. It\u2019s properly scheduled under Schedule I. And therefore we have this conflict.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He also mentioned that there may be changes coming to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/05\/15\/behind-national-district-attorneys-association-marijuana-white-paper\/78966\/\">Cole Memorandum.<\/a> \u201cJim Cole tried to deal with it in that memorandum and at the moment that memorandum is still in effect. Maybe there will be changes to it in the future but we\u2019re still operating under that policy which is an effort to balance the conflicting interests with regard to marijuana. So I can assure you that is going to be a high priority for me as the U.S. Attorneys come on board to talk about how to deal with that challenge in the states that have legalized or decriminalized marijuana, whether it be for recreational or medical use\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He concluded that the Department of Justice is \u201cresponsible for enforcing the law. It\u2019s illegal, and that is the federal policy with regards to marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murkowski responded only, \u201cConfusing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rosenstein will appear before the House Appropriations committee at 2 p.m. ET. Follow along at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/06\/13\/jeff-sessions-rod-rosenstein-house-senate-committee\/81415\/\">the Cannabist live blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>See the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?c4673451\/deputy-ag-rod-rosenstein-marijuana\">full clip of his response<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story is developing and will be updated.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/pwashburn\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/deputy-attorney-general-rod-rosenstein-from-a-legal-and-scientific-perspective-marijuana-is-an-unlawful-drug.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Polly joined The Cannabist in December 2016 as a digital producer. She has been creating print, web and video content for a couple of decades. She returned to her home town of Denver in 2012 after living in eleven other cities in four countries, and&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appeared before the Senate Appropriations committee to discuss the Justice Department\u2019s budget, and was faced with questions on law enforcement, the investigation into Russia\u2019s influence on the 2016 election and a question on the DOJ stance on marijuana. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7147,6813,77,5667,6899,56,9,6833,6855,5019,441,7148,1,3,6963,5125,61,1736],"tags":[7149,6818,2655,5673,6900,2636,6835,6856,5022,3015,7150,6966,5128],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7472"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}