As many people know, the federal government classifies certain drugs according to a schedule. In fact, the Drug Enforcement Agency is permitted by statute to make the rules which determine in which class a particular drug belongs. Criminal statutes and penalties are enacted based on those classifications. Schedule I drugs are considered the most dangerous and the most addictive. Examples of Schedule I drugs are heroin and LSD. Schedule V drugs are the least dangerous. An example of a Schedule V drug is the cough medicine Robitussin.
Despite Schedule I including the most dangerous and addictive drugs and substances that have no accepted medical value, cannabis, or marijuana, is still considered a Schedule I drug. Basically, the federal government is saying marijuana is just as bad as heroin and bath salts. Also, despite the fact that doctors all over the country, and all over Florida, are prescribing marijuana to patients to treat a variety of medical conditions, the federal government is saying that marijuana has no accepted medical use. By definition, in order to be a Schedule I drug, a substance must have no accepted medical value.
This kind of government ignorance and corruption would be silly if it wasn’t resulting in people going to prison for having marijuana. In some marijuana cases, criminal defense lawyers are making the legal argument that it is not constitutional to punish a person for having a Schedule I drug that has no medical use when we are dealing with a substance that medical doctors all over Florida and the country (and all over the world) are prescribing to patients for medicinal purposes. That seems like an obvious and logical argument that cannot lose in any tribunal where logic and reason are considered useful tools for decision making. However, anyone who believes logic should win the day underestimates just how backwards our government is, and just how addicted government officials are on campaign donations from billion dollar pharmaceutical companies. Financial influence is a formidable opponent of reason and justice.