(Washington)—The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) consideration to reschedule marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 does little to address and repair the harms created by the War on Drugs and other policing practices targeting Black and Brown communities. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), and the National Immigration Project call on the DEA to deschedule marijuana instead.
“Immigrants are uniquely affected by the federal categorization of marijuana as a controlled substance, even where marijuana use has been legalized by states,” said ILRC Policy Attorney & Strategist Nithya Nathan-Pineau. “For an immigrant, a conviction of possessing marijuana can lead to immigration detention and deportation, perpetuating a vicious cycle of family separation and injustice.”
“People can fully comply with state law and unknowingly lose their ability to naturalize or receive a green card. Immigrants are penalized the same, regardless of which schedule a controlled substance falls under,” added Caitlin Bellis, Policy & Community Advocacy Attorney at the National Immigration Project.
“For decades, law enforcement has targeted Black and Latinx communities for cannabis-related activity, and immigrants have been doubly targeted by ICE. Moving marijuana to another federal schedule will continue this cycle and leave immigrants vulnerable to deportation, detention and denial of citizenship, including in states that have legalized marijuana,” said Benita Jain, Senior Advisor and Federal Policy Counsel at the Immigrant Defense Project.
“Although rescheduling marijuana would put it in a less restrictive class, people would still be slapped with felonies and egregious penalties under federal law, including deportation,” Nathan-Pineau added. “There are no protections for people who work in the cannabis industry, especially for undocumented workers.”
The ILRC, IDP, and the National Immigration Project are all members of the Marijuana Justice Coalition. We are deeply dismayed to hear lawmakers praise the proposal to reschedule, rather than deschedule, marijuana. This small step mainly benefits corporate interests within the marijuana industry, but continues to harm immigrants and communities of color. President Biden announced in 2022 and 2023 that he would be granting pardons to people with federal marijuana possession convictions. While we encourage broader use of clemency by President Biden and state governors, this announcement rang hollow for those who were left out and for immigrants who continue to face immigration obstacles as a result of even pardoned convictions. Rescheduling marijuana is a similarly ineffective policy that will largely keep the status quo for the vast majority of people.
Immigration impacts, which would all remain as long as marijuana is on the federal drug schedules, include:
- Lawful permanent residents who are authorized employees of or service providers to the multi-billion dollar cannabis industry, as office staff, farmworkers, accountants, or other positions — may be barred from becoming United States citizens. Because marijuana is on federal schedules, they may be deemed “drug traffickers” who lack “good moral character.”
- For the same reason, relatives of U.S. citizens who work in the cannabis industry can be denied a family visa and be subject to deportation.
- Immigrants who, in accord with state law, use recreational marijuana in their home also remain at risk for being rejected from citizenship or family visas – because it remains a federal controlled substance.
- Any immigrant who uses medical cannabis, under a doctor’s care, in accord with state law, as part of treatment for glaucoma, epilepsy, chronic pain, or the side effects of chemotherapy may also face obstacles to naturalization or getting a green card.
“We have worked for years to address the harms of unfair drug laws and we will continue to campaign for policies that directly address the needs of our communities, not just benefit corporate interests.,” Nathan-Pineau said.