Dispensaries, patients frown on DEA ruling

The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration announced this week that marijuana will remain a “Schedule 1” drug, on the same level as heroin and LSD, but it’s what the agency said in its response that is just as upsetting to dispensaries and patients in Colorado Springs.

Thousands of people in Southern Colorado, from epileptic children to veterans suffering from PTSD, now take various forms of medical marijuana to improve their conditions.

However, it remains illegal under federal law.

In a letter to the lawmakers who requested the agency reconsider the classification, the administrator of the DEA wrote, “…marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use in
the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision.”

“I think it’s unfortunate,” said Christopher Chavez, who considers himself a Texas refugee who had to leave to seek treatment for his PTSD, anxiety, and back pain.

With his Colorado red card, he can now buy cannibis openly and safely.

A year ago in San Antonio, he would buy his marijuana on the street.

“You know, you never knew what you were going to get. You never knew where it came from, who grew it, how they grew it, whether there was pesticides used in it, whether there was bugs in it,” said Chavez.

He’s one of dozens of patients that come to the Green House on 8th Street every day.

Employee Caitlin Quattrocchi says there are countless stories just like his.

“I’ve had people going from having anywhere from 5 to 50 seizures a day to zero for 2, 3, 5 solid years from using cannibis,” she said.

Like Chavez, Quattrocchi can’t understand the federal government’s refusal to budge.

“It is almost comical in a sense,” she said.

But she is thankful that 25 individual states, including Colorado, have now decided not to wait for Washington.

In its response, the DEA did open the door to more research on marijuana, and advocates say that’s a step in the right direction.