Surgeon General: Federal drug classification needs changes

BOSTON (AP) — The nation’s drug classification system should be revisited but illegal drugs shouldn’t simply be decriminalized nationwide, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told a gathering of police leaders focused on the opioids crisis Thursday in Boston.

“Our scheduling system is functioning, but not as ideally as it could,” he said of the federal schedule for controlled substances maintained by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration. “Things aren’t static. We have to continue to evolve.”

Adams, who serves as the primary adviser on public health and scientific issues for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, said one concern is that researchers are having difficulty studying the medial potential of marijuana because of the drug’s classification.

The DEA considers marijuana a “Schedule I” drug along with heroin and LSD because it has no “currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to its website.

“Just as we need to look at our criminal justice laws, we need to look at our health laws and regulations, and that includes the scheduling system,” Adams said.

But Adams said he isn’t supportive of “across-the-board” decriminalization of illegal drugs as some countries in Europe have tried. [Read More @ WALB News]