At a press conference in Harlem on January 28th, Prince Lobel partners David Holland and Andrew Schriever were present for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s announcement of her letter requesting that Attorney General Garland and the Drug Enforcement Administration deschedule marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act. As the Executive Director of the New York State affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Holland was asked by the Senator to address the crowd. He stated: “We don’t believe that rescheduling is enough,” and joined the politicians in their mission to request that the DEA take actions to cause the deschedule of cannabis.
In his capacity as Executive Director of Empire State NORML, Holland issued the following written statement made part of the Senator’s official press release:
“Empire State NORML strongly supports Senator Gillibrand’s call for the federal descheduling of cannabis. The repeal of cannabis prohibition through rescheduling does not promote New York’s stated goal in the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (“MRTA”), of redressing the harms of the War on Drugs. By rescheduling cannabis as a Schedule III medicine may be the catalyst to the unintended consequence of creating a national medical monopoly that could supplant the existing cannabis industry found in New York and more than 40 other states which has produced more than half a million jobs and billions of dollars of revenue. Such an industry contraction and concentration of the ownership of the means of production to the medical industry could stifle competition and inhibit strain development and cannabinoid innovation richly found in the existing and ongoing market. Preservation of the state economies build around the cannabis industry and continued participation of the diverse pool of independent operators and entrepreneurs across the nation should be a greater priority than solely bestowing alleviation from IRS Code 280e to a chosen few. The potential for that devastating consequence can be avoided by descheduling cannabis and allowing the states to continue in their missions to foster existing markets while promoting at a more grass roots level the health and welfare of their cannabis consuming constituents.”
Click HERE to read the full press release from Sen. Gillibrand and HERE to read about the press conference from the New York Post.
Partners Andrew Schriever and David Holland with U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Andrew Schriever and David Holland Stand with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as she speaks at the January 28th press conference.