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- The US DEA has finally removed inaccurate information about the apparent “dangers” of cannabis from its website this Monday
- The change comes after cannabis advocacy group Americans for Safe Access successfully filed a legal petition calling for the DEA to remove incorrect claims
In one of the most unlikely U-turns of the year, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has removed false information about the supposed dangers of cannabis from its official government website.
As of Monday, the “Dangers and Consequences of Marijuana Abuse,” publication, a nearly-45-page document containing information on various ramifications of cannabis use, has been taken down from the DEA’s website.
Advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) argued that information from the DEA’s website about cannabis had directly influenced “the action — and inaction — of Congress.”
Some of the statements on this document included claims that: cannabis is a precursor to illicit drug use and heroin addiction (AKA the debunked gateway drug theory); that cannabis plays a significant role in psychosis; and that smoking cannabis can cause tumors of the head, neck and lung.
All of these claims are contradicted by the DEA’s own statements, made back in August 2016 in the DEA’s Denial of Petition to Initiate Proceedings to Reschedule Marijuana, according to ASA.
Cannabis is not a gateway drug
ASA’s petition argued that the false information and claims violated the federal Information Quality Act, designed to ensure integrity of information published by federal agencies.
Last September, the then-US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said cannabis is not, in fact, a gateway drug: “We usually … are talking about individuals that started out with a prescription drug problem.”
With the DEA being forced to admit that it’s information on cannabis is false, are we closer to cannabis being fully legalised on a Federal scale in America?
If there is no supporting evidence that cannabis is dangerous to health, physical or mental, then how can any judge ever justify convicting someone for possession or use of cannabis?
By Miles Casey