We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

NOTHING HAPPENING HERE…

If Congress does not approve a new appropriations bill by September 30, the government could shut down. But as anyone who works in or with the federal government knows, the government pretty much shuts down every year for the month of August as legislators, agency heads and government employees leave town for vacations.

This leaves a number of issues important to federal defendants hanging. Two of those are cocaine and marijuana reform.

Before leaving town for the beach, Dept of Justice officials filed comments with the U.S. Sentencing Commission urging the Commission to adopt a number of priorities for the coming year. On the equivalency of powder and crack cocaine, the DOJ urged the Commission (1) to advocate that Congress for passage of the EQUAL Act (S.524 and H.R.1062) to remedy the current disparity between treatment of powder cocaine and cocaine base; and (2) to remind sentencing courts of “their obligation, when considering [18 USC § 3553(a)] sentencing factors, to consider the pharmacological similarities between powder and crack cocaine and whether it is appropriate to impose a variance consistent with the relevant base offense level for powder cocaine.”

You may recall that last October, President Biden directed that the Dept of Health and Human Services lead an effort to reclassify marijuana as something less than a Schedule I drug. That effort includes review by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Pressed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) during a July 27 oversight hearing on DEA, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told the subcommittee that the agency has not been provided with a definite timeline to review marijuana’s classification. When Gaetz asked Milgram if she would request the timeline from the HHS, she said, “I will ask.”

The rescheduling of marijuana probably won’t be done until late next year. A rescheduling could possibly lead to changes in 21 USC § 841 as to punishment – if not conviction ¬– for marijuana.

DOJ, Letter to Sentencing Commission (July 31, 2023)

Forbes, DEA Head Pledges To Seek Federal Marijuana Rescheduling Review Timeline From HHS (July 31, 2023)

House Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, Hearing (July 27, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root