A Democratic congressman says psychedelics are now “way ahead” of marijuana in terms of federal legislative momentum—and he’s criticizing former President Joe Biden for not doing enough to advance meaningful cannabis reform before the end of his term last month.
Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), chair of the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus, told MEDCAN24 in an interview at the Capitol on Wednesday that he agreed with the idea that psychedelics are increasingly taking precedent over cannabis—with bipartisan lawmakers continuing to advance reform to tap into the therapeutic potential of drugs such as MDMA and psilocybin.
Marijuana has a completely different history. While the congressman has long advocated for ending cannabis prohibition, he pointed out that “we’ve been working on cannabis—what, thirty years?” You won’t see any tangible results.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has reluctantly prioritized research on cannabis over the years. VA, however, has shown a willingness to take the lead in psychedelic research with numerous clinical trials.
Correa: “We are still failing to score on marijuana.” We’ve gotten the VA, with our PATH Caucus efforts, to actually study” psychedelics.
The congressman lamented the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected an application to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder last year—despite his and other lawmakers vocal advocacy for approval.
He said: “The fact that people are actually debating psychedelics, compared with cannabis, shows me we’re far ahead.”
Correa was asked to comment on marijuana rescheduling. This process was started under Biden’s administration, but is currently in flux due to the delay of administrative hearings. This has been complicated further by the fact the new leadership in the Drug Enforcement Administration is fighting the rescheduling attempt, accusing DOJ to hijack the process out of political motivation.
Correa predicted that rescheduling would be a big money maker for him under Trump’s administration.
Before he left I was hoping Biden would address this issue. The congressman stated that Biden did not take action. “I would guess that this isn’t a high priority for the Trump Administration.” It’s going to be problematic.
Biden initiated the cannabis scheduling revision that resulted in a Schedule III recommendation. He also pardoned people who had committed federal marijuana possession crimes. Correa is right, but he has been criticized for failing to do more in his time as a federal prosecutor.
He added: “Let us see how many DEA Agents are asked to be fired.” This was in reference to the Trump administration’s proposed defunding of federal agencies and its newly established Department of Government Efficiency.
Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) separately told MEDCAN24 last week that it’s “definitely” time to have a talk with Trump’s pick for head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—to convince him that “marijuana is harmful” and that the way to make Americans healthy is by “limiting” its use.
The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
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Kristie Gianpulos is the photographer of this image element.