State Department’s permissive reading of international drug treaties is ‘good sign’ for marijuana rescheduling, lawyer says
The comments could signal a potentially meaningful shift in the U.S. reading of global drug treaty obligations
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Recent comments by a U.S. State Department official to a United Nations (UN) drug commission are being seen by some legal experts as “a good sign” for marijuana’s potential domestic move to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), at least in terms of clearing the country’s obligations under international law. Patt Prugh, a senior legal advisor and the primary counsel for the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, told the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) that the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and other global drug conventions take a “highly respectful” stance toward member states’ domestic policies that don’t have an “international dimension” and ought to be weighed against their duties to protect human rights.
