A group of 11 attorneys general submitted a letter to federal regulators opposed to the proposed rescheduling of cannabis. The letter, from AGs in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota, contends that “the public health damage resulting from expanded access to marijuana will not be confined to States where it remains fully illegal under state law” and that “moving marijuana to Schedule III will effectively provide the marijuana industry with a substantial tax cut.”
“… In some respects, a rescheduled marijuana will receive more favorable federal tax treatment than alcohol, tobacco, and gambling,” the letter states. “This will cause a tremendous expansion of the existing marijuana industry. And that expansion will lead to the increased consumption of marijuana, which in turn causes a panoply of negative effects.”
Further, the attorneys general argue that cannabis “causes myriad health problems,” including harm to child and adolescent development, links to mental health conditions like schizophrenia, and physical ailments such as cancer and heart disease.
“Expanded marijuana access also increases motor vehicle accidents and creates difficult problems in enforcing laws that prohibit driving while intoxicated,” the AGs write. “Nor