Letter To Senator Chuck Grassley About Federal Medical Cannabis Exemption — December 27, 2021

December 27, 2021
Senator Charles Grassley
721 Federal Building
210 Walnut Street
Des Moines, IA 50309
Fax: (515) 288-5097

Senator Charles Grassley
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Fax: (202) 224-6020

Dear Senator Grassley,

As you know, the state of Iowa has set up a program for cultivation, distribution, and use of marijuana. Iowa Code Chapter 124E. This marijuana extract program has had no reported diversion and no reported adverse health impact.

Despite the authority of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to exempt this program from federal drug law, DEA has allowed significant damage to the state and federal relationship to fester.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-645_9p6b.pdf

21 U.S.C. § 822(d) authorizes DEA to exempt manufacture and distribution, and 21 U.S.C. § 822(c)(3) makes the exemption applicable to end users.

An application for exemption can be found in 21 C.F.R. § 1307.03, and the state department of health agrees with me that DEA should authorize an exemption for Iowa Code Chapter 124E. I am attaching the declaration from the Iowa Department of Public Health on September 4, 2020, stating that 21 C.F.R. § 1307.03 is the only clear path forward.

DEA currently maintains an exemption in 21 C.F.R. § 1307.31 for the religious use of peyote. Is a state government entitled to as much respect as a church? I’m asking, because that certainly isn’t apparent. As it currently stands, it appears churches have more rights than state governments do. How can that be?

When the U.S. Supreme Court last considered the exemption for the religious use of peyote in 2006, it found that the exemption exists because there is a low risk of diversion and a low risk to public health. Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418, 434 (2006) (emphasis added):

“In other words, if any Schedule I substance is in fact always highly dangerous in any amount no matter how used, what about the unique relationship with the Tribes justifies allowing their use of peyote? Nothing about the unique political status of the Tribes makes their members immune from the health risks the Government asserts accompany any use of a Schedule I substance, nor insulates the Schedule I substance the Tribes use in religious exercise from the alleged risk of diversion.”

In your last letter to me, you said you would follow up with the DEA for me.

What did the DEA tell you?

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Carl Olsen

cc: Sarah G. Reisetter, Deputy Director, Iowa Department of Public Health
Colin C. Murphy, GOURLEY REHKEMPER LINDHOLM, P.L.C.