Dr.Void/Norihide Ensako

$CMPS $DFTX $HELP A Democratic lawmaker has filed a lengthy new bill in Congress that would completely overhaul the federal system for classifying drugs. “A priority list of substances—including psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, DMT and ibogaine—would need to be reevaluated under the new system within two years and would be rescheduled with new default placements under the bill if health officials fail to do so. The Public Health and Research Reforms In Controlled Substances Act, introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) on Thursday, amounts to a wholesale rewrite of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), legislation enacted in the Nixon era that has governed federal scheduling of marijuana, psychedelics and other drugs for more than half a century. The new 89-page bill would, among other reforms, replace the current five-schedule system with a new dual-axis framework that separately evaluates a drug’s potential for substance use disorders and threat to public health for placement on Schedules I-IV and its medical efficacy for ranking on Schedules A-E. As such, a given substance could be determined to have a relatively high abuse potential (Schedule I) as well as a high therapeutic value (Schedule A), classified as a Schedule IA drug. Cohen’s measure would also transfer core authorities in the drug scheduling process from the Department of Justice, attorney general and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which under current law makes recommendations to law enforcement officials who ultimately make final determinations. “This bill would set comprehensive policies on all aspects of drug regulation while also defining the purpose of federal involvement,” the congressman said. “A thoughtful review of national drug policy is long overdue. This measure would start the process of aligning the law with coherent public policy.” SSDP Executive Director Kat Murti said Cohen’s new bill “recognizes that drug scheduling should follow science, not stand in its way.” “By reevaluating outdated classifications, distinguishing a substance’s potential risks from its therapeutic value, and reducing unnecessary barriers to research, this bill would help give scientists the freedom to ask important questions and pursue answers that could save lives,” she said. “We cannot make sensible drug policy without good science, and we cannot have good science when our drug policies make that research unnecessarily difficult. Congressman Cohen understands that ending the War on Drugs means ending the harm it does to scientific progress, too.” marijuanamoment.net/new-bill…