Itap official: the U.S. governmentap top drug cop has acknowledged that marijuana is less dangerous than heroin.
At a meeting with reporters yesterday at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration, acting chief Chuck Rosenberg said that “heroin is clearly more dangerous than marijuana,” . This clarifies , when he told reporters that marijuana was “probably not” as dangerous as heroin, adding “I’m not an expert.”
DEA marijuana busts
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This shouldn’t be news. Researchers have that marijuana is than heroin — and nearly all other psychoactive drugs, for that matter. Heroin overdoses kill thousands of people each year, while marijuana . Itap than heroin, alcohol, nicotine and other drugs. And — particularly as an alternative to dangerous prescription painkillers.
As far back as 1972, commissioned by President Richard Nixon recommended that marijuana use and possession be decriminalized, arguing that “neither the marihuana [sic] user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety.”
But Nixon ignored the reportap findings. Marijuana was left on , the most restrictive category, reserved for drugs that “have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.” Other Schedule 1 drugs include heroin and LSD.
Politics and courts
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In recent years as public opinion on marijuana has shifted and the science on the drug becomes more settled and accepted, the DEA has stuck with its anti-marijuana stance. Former DEA administrator Michelle Leonhart, who earlier this year, whether marijuana was less dangerous than crack or heroin in a 2014 congressional hearing. The exchange .
Under Leonhart, the DEA also on marijuana reform measures, in defiance of congressional mandates, and was for its opposition to industrial hemp.
And in that context, Rosenberg’s cautious acknowledgement on the relative safety of marijuana is indeed news. Itap a small sign that under its new leadership the DEA may start staking out policy positions that are more in line with the , , and the American public.
