Forbes | The difficulty in finding an appropriate schedule for marijuana
reflects a broader problem with the CSA’s classification scheme. If a
controlled substance does not have an accepted medical use (however
that’s defined), it has to go in Schedule I, even if it has a low
potential for abuse and is safer than over-the-counter drugs such as
aspirin, acetaminophen, or diphenhydramine. The only alternative is to
take the drug out of the schedules entirely, which in the case of
marijuana can be done only by Congress, given the CSA’s deference to the
Single Convention, which allows medical use of cannabis but calls for
strict regulation.
Although the DEA has the power to move marijuana from one schedule to
another, it was Congress that put it in Schedule I to begin with. The
CSA was not intended to regulate recreational intoxicants, which are
banned unless Congress omitted them from the law’s schedules, as it did
with alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine. The DEA’s assumption that all
nonmedical use of marijuana constitutes abuse may be absurd, but it’s an
absurdity that Congress demanded.
