What to expect from Obama's Supreme Court nominee on weed reform
Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland has a long way to go before he even gets a confirmation hearing. But if he winds up sitting on the highest judicial bench in the United States, he may find himself to be a deciding factor in the future of the country's marijuana policy.
Garland is considered a moderate liberal by most, meaning he would slant the Supreme Court to the left in a 5-4 split. But when it comes to marijuana reform, in the recent past he's leaned more conservative, though it's hard to determine how he would come down, if appointed.
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In 2012, Garland and two other judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit presided over a case brought by Americans for Safe Access against the Drug Enforcement Administration. Americans for Safe Access argued that the DEA should no longer classify marijuana as a schedule 1 drug along with drugs such as heroin that don't have "accepted" medical benefits.
The court rejected the appeal, siding with the DEA. Garland signed onto the court's opinion, which quoted a part of the DEA's defense, showing Garland's willingness to defer to government health experts.
"To establish accepted medical use, the effectiveness of a drug must be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted and well-documented scientific studies [with] a large number of patients," the DEA said in the quoted passage. "To date, such studies have not been performed."
But marijuana reform advocates may not need to despair.
Judge Harry Edwards, who wrote the opinion Garland signed onto, also said that judges didn't necessarily doubt marijuana's medical benefits. The bulk of the reason the justices sided with the DEA, according to the opinion, was due to the purported lack of "well-controlled studies" proving such medical benefits.
During the hearing, Garland said he felt the justices had to "defer" to the judgment of scientists on whether marijuana should be reclassified.
Some felt Garland ignored studies not conducted by the government. But some marijuana reform advocates seem cautiously optimistic about Garland's deference to science.
"While we can't say for certain how he will be on the bench if his nomination is accepted, Garland appears to be a safe choice from the cannabis industry perspective," said Jeffrey Zucker, the president of cannabis consulting firm Green Lion Partners. "Although he hasn't been a champion of the issue, it's good to know that he has an open mind to listen to the scientists."
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Topics Cannabis Supreme Court
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
