The White House drug czar says the Biden administration is “monitoring” states that have legalized marijuana to inform federal policy, recognizing the failures of the current prohibitionist approach. He also said that the federal government is reviewing broader drug policy harm reduction proposals, including the authorization of supervised consumption sites—and going so far as to suggest possible decriminalization.
Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), made several telling remarks in an interview published on Wednesday by Financial Times.
“We’re learning from those states [that have enacted cannabis reform],” Gupta said. “We’re monitoring the data and trying to see where things go. But one thing is very clear, and the president has been clear about that—the policies that we’ve had around marijuana have not been working.”
President Joe Biden campaigned on a cannabis platform of decriminalization, rescheduling, respecting states’ rights and other modest reforms, though he remains opposed to adult-use legalization and has yet to take meaningful action on his prior pledges.
