The American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans organization with over 2.4 million members, has passed a resolution^[1] calling on the federal government to remove cannabis as a Schedule 1 controlled substance which indicates it has no medical value. This is the first time the organization, formed in 1919, has passed a resolution calling on a reformation of cannabis laws.

Specifically, the resolution calls for the government to “amend legislation to remove marijuana from schedule I and reclassify it in a category that, at a minimum will recognize cannabis as a drug with potential medical value.” The resolution, which also calls on the DEA to “license privately-funded medical marijuana production operations in the United States to enable safe and efficient cannabis drug development research”, was given approval at the group’s annual meeting in Cincinnati which took place between August 30 and September 1.

The passage of the resolution comes less than a month after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced ^[2]that they will be retaining cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug alongside hard drugs such as heroin.

References

1. ^{^} passed a resolution (twitter.com)
2. ^{^} Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced (thejointblog.com)
3. ^{^} Anthony Martinelli (thejointblog.com)