Merrick Garland on Drugs

Let DEA decide whether marijuana has any medical benefits

The court rejected the appeal, siding with the DEA. Garland signed onto the court's opinion, which quoted a part of the DEA's defense, showing Garland's willingness to defer to government health experts. "To establish accepted medical use, the effectiveness of a drug must be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted & well-documented scientific studies with a large number of patients," the DEA said in the quoted passage. "To date, such studies have not been performed."

During the hearing, Garland said he felt the justices had to "defer" to the judgment of scientists on whether marijuana should be reclassified.