Image Credit: Facebook: Rep. Diana Harshbarger, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Senator Bill Hagerty, Congressman John Rose & Canva
The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
On Thursday, President Trump officially rescheduled marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance, putting it in the same category as Tylenol with codeine, but several Republican members of Tennessee’s Congressional delegation signed onto letters urging the President to reconsider his decision.
Two letters were sent to the President on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning after it was confirmed it was his intent to move ahead with the rescheduling, with 22 Senators and 26 Representatives objecting to the change.
Tennessee’s Senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, both signed onto the Senate letter, and Representatives Diana Harshbarger and John Rose joined their colleagues on the other letter.
Amongst other topics, the Senate letter pointed to studies showing marijuana usage linked to “depression, anxiety, suicide planning, and psychotic episodes” and an unfortunate correlation to the drug and mass shootings. It also discussed “a massive tax break to marijuana companies” which would benefit from a $2.3 billion break with rescheduling. The Senators claim marijuana business leaders have said they will use the infusion of funds to increase businesses and advertising into more states, and this could be detrimental should that advertising reach kids.
“In light of the documented dangers of marijuana, facilitating the growth of the marijuana industry is at odds with growing our economy and encouraging healthy lifestyles for Americans. We urge you to continue your strong leadership of our country and our economy, and to turn away from marijuana rescheduling,” it concludes.
While similar in content, the letter from House Republicans also emphasized also road safety issues, the potential for youth addiction, and the possible benefit for Chinese drug cartels which operate thousands of state government-licensed marijuana farms nationwide, according to the DEA.
“Rescheduling marijuana will not make America great. You have always been a role model for America’s youth, telling young people for years that they should never do drugs. We hope that you consider the harms of marijuana rescheduling and continue sending that strong message of hope to the next generation,” the Representatives contended.
On a more local level, State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis-District 31) criticized two Shelby County-area District Attorneys and their soft-on-crime approaches, including a push to decriminalize marijuana, though his comments were not aimed directly at the President’s action.
“Unfortunately, Tennessee has a couple of soft-on-crime DAs who are more concerned with decriminalizing marijuana (because more psychosis is what we need to help stop crime?!) than aggressively prosecuting. These restorative Justice Schemers leave more innocent victims in their wake,” he wrote on X. “Frederick Agee and Steve Mulroy are two peas in a pod. Perhaps they should lay down their doobies (obviously clouding their judgement in their roles as DAs) and instead focus on aggressively prosecuting… These two incompetents couldn’t negotiate a whopper with no pickles!”
Many proponents of the change, particularly those in medical fields, claim the redesignation will open the drug up to further study and testing to make it a more viable alternative to conventional painkillers.
“This is not legalizing it, it’s making it easier to do research so that we can use it when it is indicated and optimal,” said one of the doctors present at the signing of the order.
The President also reiterated the intent of the reclassification was not legalization, but for scientific purposes. “I want to emphasize that the order I am about to sign is not the legalization of marijuana in any way, shape, or form, and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug…It’s never safe to use powerful controlled substances in recreational manners, especially in this case.” he stated. “A big part of this is research. In other words, you’ll now have a much larger sample, and you’ll be able to see if it’s as good as many people say it is.”
However other research organizations and medical professionals have rebutted, saying that the rescheduling gives the illusion of regulation while exposing the public to known, unmanaged risks.
Every Brain Matters notes that Schedule III drugs are presumed to have “accepted medical use, predictable dosing, and manageable risk”, and claims that marijuana “particularly in its modern, high-potency forms” does not meet that standard.
A new report which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association from researchers at top-tier universities concluded there was insufficient evidence from randomized trials to support “the use of cannabis or cannabinoids for most conditions for which is it promoted, such as acute pain and insomnia.”
How this change will or will not affect Tennessee laws is to be seen as all previous attempts to legalize marijuana in the state have failed in the legislature. But that could look different moving ahead as Republican legislators have previously stated they would only consider legalization if the drug was reclassified at the federal level.
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
3 Responses
Yup, lucifer’s pharma’s servants, purporting to be Christians, oppose it.
Genesis 1:29
And God GOD!! said, Behold, I have given you(for your judicious responsible use) every EVERY!! herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, AND(also) every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
What we NEED here in the “Land of the (not so)Free” is lucifer’s prohibition ended and our GOD GIVEN herbal FREEDOM RESTORED to grow and use our own medicine. “Medical” whatever is a trap for lucifer’s pharma, “doctors” and “taxmen”.
Agreed! Big pharma does not have our best interest in their plans and the government should not tell us we can’t have, grow, or use a God given, medicinal plant that had been used for centuries.
The level of misinformation in the arguments against any type of legalization of marijuana is beyond disingenuous! Do these same Congress people want to ban alcohol as 25 – 30% of all violent crimes in the US are linked to the use of alcohol according to Health and Human Services? According to the FBI unified crime report, there is not an increase in crime where marijuana is legal.
There are numerous independent medical studies from private Dr.’s and other countries proving that cannabis has numerous medical uses. Our body has an endocannabinoid system that is barely taught in US medical schools even though it is your body’s master regulator. Every Dr. I ask outside of holistic practitioners has very little knowledge as to how this system works, yet they are saying that cannabis has little or no medical value and can’t even tell me what a terpene is, nor what they do. It’s amazing that hundreds of thousands of people in our country have successfully used a cannabis product to reduce symptoms of or cure their medical condition. I am one of them. I have cured my arthritis, not just covered the pain, with a CBD, CBG, THC tincture above the levels of THC allowed in TN. How did I know what product to use? By reading tons of research on cannabis!
It is inherently obvious that they are all tied to (purchased by) big pharma. When I have tried to have informative conversations with state legislatures here, I have been verbally abused by them and one even told me to “keep getting stoned and stay off the roads” even though I specifically told him I don’t smoke it and use a tincture in small doses and you feel 0 effects, yet over time, it reduces the inflammation in your body and therefore symptoms of the disease which has inflammation as a root cause. When we solve the root cause of the problem, the symptoms of the problem go away. I watched big pharma give my mom prescription after prescription to “help” her. I watched her health decline, the diseases progress and Dr.’s blame everything EXCEPT what was at the root cause. That’s what big pharma does – prescribe drugs to cover up the problem, not actually cure things because that would cut into their profit margins. That’s why cannabis is still illegal and very misguided, disingenuous arguments are used to try to keep it illegal.
I trust a plant, given to us by God, over anything concocted by a huge industry that has proven it’s main goal is to make a profit. Cures aren’t profitable. In a free nation, we should be free to choose what we use to treat our ailments. Will there be those that abuse the plant? Yes, just like there are people who abuse alcohol, (which is legal, the true gateway drug, and far more dangerous) but the majority of people don’t and won’t abuse cannabis and the government in a “free” nation should not tell us that we are not allowed to use a plant with amazing healing properties provided by God.