Nearly 150 social workers have signed on to a letter urging President Joe Biden to fully remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), arguing that despite the administration’s proposal to downgrade cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, there’s nevertheless a “critical need for decriminalization.”
“The criminalization of marijuana has torn apart families, with overwhelmingly disparate impact in communities of color,” says the letter, sent to the president by 148 social workers last week. “If marijuana remains scheduled under the CSA, the individual and collective suffering caused by prohibition will continue growing.”
The letter points out that under current law, people convicted of drug offenses can lose public benefits, including welfare aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as well as access to housing.
“By virtue of our profession, we have witnessed the grievous harm that marijuana criminalization has caused,” it says. “If marijuana remains scheduled, parents will lose their children, children will lose their homes, and beloved members of our households will be deprived of essential benefits.”
Despite overwhelming support for legalization, it adds, “the use of marijuana remains a federal crime”—which would still be true in most cases even after federal rescheduling.
The current patchwork of state and local laws has also led to sharply different circumstances across the country, the letter continues, arguing that the “piecemeal approach towards legalization has created significant disparities in opportunities and outcomes.”
“While communities in legal states can build wealth from legal marijuana sales and benefit from regulations that ensure a safe, unaltered product,” it says, “other communities are subject to losing their homes, their occupations, their families, and their freedom over the same substance. The disparities in marijuana laws stand in stark opposition to the 88% of Americans who support legalization.”
“Approximately 80% of all children in the foster care system are removed from their homes for drug-related causes,” it adds.
Hellbound and Down 