February 22, 2024

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden:

We are current and former police chiefs, sheriffs, federal and state prosecutors, and correctional officials
from across the country dedicated to protecting public safety and reducing unnecessary arrests,
prosecutions, and incarceration. We urge your Administration to reclassify marijuana from a schedule I to
a schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Public opinion on how the federal government should treat cannabis has dramatically shifted away from
historic punitive approaches to cannabis use. By the end of this year, thirty-eight states will have
established a form of legalized framework — medical, adult-use, or both — with strong voter and/or
legislative support. We are concerned about how the direct conflict between state and federal laws that
currently exists regarding the handling of cannabis makes it difficult for law enforcement to respond
effectively to pressing public safety challenges.
This conflict between federal and state laws has also allowed an unregulated cannabis market to gain
footing across the United States. The unregulated market is one that cultivates, manufactures, distributes,
and sells cannabis without a government-issued license, permit, or approval. It effectively operates in the
dark, outside of state-imposed guardrails and oversight. Alarmingly, we have seen cases in states
like California and Oklahoma where sophisticated yet unlicensed operations are tied to organized criminal
enterprises. This unregulated commerce thus poses a serious risk to public safety in communities around
the country, through such connections to organized crime and the absence of oversight.
We believe that reclassification under schedule III would be an important step to help both federal and
state law enforcement better prioritize limited public safety resources. They can focus efforts on working
together to combat the harms that arise from unregulated cannabis markets. Moreover, rescheduling
would also allow legal markets to compete on a level playing field potentially leading to greater
reinvestments in critical programs that can bolster public safety. Therefore, we strongly urge the Drug
Enforcement Administration to follow HHS’s recommendation and reclassify marijuana as a schedule III

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substance under the CSA. Such a move would advance public safety and promote more efficient and
effective use of law enforcement resources across the country.
Sincerely,

Ronal W, Serpas, Ph.D.

Executive Director
Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration
Former Police Superintendent
New Orleans, Louisiana
Former Police Chief
Nashville, Tennessee
State Patrol, Washington

Art Acevedo
Former Interim Police Chief
Aurora, Colorado
Former Police Chief
Miami, Florida,
Houston, Texas
Austin, Texas
Former President
Major Cities Chiefs Association
Former National President
National Latino Peace Officers Association

Hassan Aden
Former Federal Consent Decree Monitor
Cleveland, Ohio
Baltimore, Maryland
Former Executive Fellow
Police Foundation
Former Police Chief
Greenville, North Carolina

Eric Atkinson
Former Police Chief
Menomonie, Wisconsin

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Todd Axtell
Former Police Chief
St. Paul, Minnesota

Diana Becton
District Attorney
Contra Costa County, California
Former Presiding Judge
Contra Costa Superior Court, California

Kenton Buckner
Former Police Chief
Syracuse, New York
Little Rock, Arkansas

Jim Bueermann
Former President
Police Foundation
Former Police Chief
Redlands, California

Chris Burbank
Former Vice President of Law Enforcement Strategy
Center for Policing Equity
Former Police Chief
Salt Lake City, Utah

Zachary Carter
Former Corporation Counsel
New York City, New York
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of New York

Kami Chavis
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney
District of Columbia

John Choi
County Attorney
Ramsey County, Minnesota

Brendan Cox
Director of Policing Strategies
LEAD National Support Bureau

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Former Police Chief
Albany, New York

Rev. Cn. Allison DeFoor

Former Sheriff
Monroe County, Florida

Edward Dowd, Jr.

Former President
National Association of Former United States Attorneys
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Missouri

Barry Grissom
Former U.S. Attorney
District of Kansas

Ronald Hampton
Former Chair and Executive Director
National Black Police Association
Former Community Relations Officer
D.C. Metropolitan Police Department

John Hummel
Former District Attorney
Deschutes County, Oregon

Justin Kollar
Former Prosecuting Attorney
Kauai County, Hawaii

Beth McCann
District Attorney
Denver, Colorado

Matthew D. Orwig
Former U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Texas

Mark Osler
Deputy County Attorney
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney
Eastern District of Michigan

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Melba Pearson
Former President
National Black Prosecutors Association
Former Assistant State Attorney
Miami-Dade County, Florida

Sue Rahr
Former Executive Director
Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission
Former Sheriff
King County, Washington
Former Director
Board of Directors, National Sheriffs’ Association
Former Police Chief
Shoreline, Washington

Gary Raney
Former Sheriff
Ada County, Idaho

Paul P. Schnell
Commissioner
Department of Corrections, Minnesota
Former Police Chief
Maplewood, Minnesota
Hastings, Minnesota

Scott Semple
Former Commissioner
Department of Corrections, Connecticut

Sean Smoot
Chairman
Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Director and Chief Counsel
Police Benevolent and Protective Association of Illinois
Former Police Commissioner
Leland Grove, Illinois

David Steingraber
Former Police Chief
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin

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Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.
Former District Attorney
New York County, New York

Bernard Warner
Former Secretary
Department of Corrections, Washington

Dean Williams
Former Executive Director
Colorado Department of Corrections
Former Commissioner
Alaska Department of Corrections

cc: The Hon. Merrick Garland, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
The Hon. Xavier Becerra, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The Hon. Anne Milgram, Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration

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February 16, 2024

Merrick Garland
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530

The Honorable Anne Milgram

Administrator
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
8701 Morrissette Drive
Springfield, VA 22152

Dear Attorney General Garland and Administrator Milgram,

On behalf of some of the nation’s largest Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs), we write you
to request that you expeditiously accept the recommendation of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III. The undersigned groups fully
support the reclassification of cannabis and eagerly await your final decision.

The men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces often face difficult physical and
mental challenges upon returning home. As such, we hope that in treating the wounds of war –
both visible and invisible – that our servicemembers and veterans would have access to the
widest array of possible treatments. The recommendation by HHS to move cannabis to Schedule
III reflects a growing acknowledgement of the accepted medical use and potential therapeutic
benefits of cannabis products. As organizations dedicated to advocating for the well-being of our
veterans, we believe the recommendation of Schedule III will open greater access to the
alternative medicines that our nation’s heroes demand and deserve.

While the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
Directive 1315 currently dictates that services will not be denied to veterans who participate in
state legal cannabis programs or acknowledge that they use cannabis, many veterans remain
uncomfortable discussing cannabis use with their VA providers due to fear of retribution. Under
current policy, veterans also cannot possess cannabis at VA facilities and the VA will not pay for
any costs associated with medical cannabis. Further still, VA healthcare providers cannot help
those under their care within the VHA to fill out applications for medical cannabis cards or to
participate in regulated medical cannabis programs – even when they reside in a state with a
legal program.

As the nation’s largest healthcare provider, the VA can and must do better in providing treatment
options to veterans – treatments that are readily available in 38 states around the country to
millions of civilian Americans outside of the VHA. By accepting the recommendation that
cannabis be moved to Schedule III from HHS, the VA will be better positioned to integrate
cannabis as an option in its pursuit of providing the best care possible for the veterans it serves.
Expanding access to cannabis is strongly supported by the veteran community. According to a
recent poll conducted by the Ohio State University, 60 percent of veterans support the full federal
legalization of cannabis.1 Medical cannabis as a treatment option has even more support, with 82
percent of veterans surveyed saying they want medical cannabis as a federally legal treatment
option.2 The federal government should not be denying the voice of its veterans nor their desire
to have equal access to medical treatments afforded to their fellow citizens in states with legal
programs are able to enjoy outside of the VHA system.

We understand that the administrative scheduling process involves several steps, but the sooner
the DEA moves forward with a reclassification of cannabis, the sooner it could potentially be
integrated into the VHA - our nation’s largest healthcare system. A prompt acceptance of the
HHS recommendation will allow the VHA to explore innovative approaches to healthcare that
are directly targeted to the needs of the veteran community it is dedicated to serving.

We appreciate your commitment to public service and strongly believe that an acceptance of the
HHS recommendation of Schedule III will lead to a more robust set of treatment options for our
nation’s veterans, including treatments found to not have many of the harmful side effects that
result from current options. We look forward to your final decision soon.

Sincerely,

Allison Jaslow
Chief Executive Officer, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

Joseph Chenelly
National Executive Director, AMVETS

Ernesto P. Hernandez III

Executive Director, American G.I. Forum

Chanin Nuntavong
Executive Director, The American Legion

Donald D. Overton, Jr.

Executive Director, Blinded Veterans Association

Lindsay Church
Executive Director, Minority Veterans of America

1
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4690552
2
https://www.legion.org/sites/legion.org/files/legion/documents/Veterans%20and%20Medical%20Cannabis.pdf