An Open Letter to Rep. Matthew Lewis Gaetz II

Can you do me a favor?

August 9, 2023

Dear Rep. Matthew Lewis Gaetz II:

Two weeks ago you asked DEA Administrator Anne Milgram a good question:

Why has the Biden Administration not taken marijuana off Schedule I off the list of Schedule I drugs?

Indeed, your line of entire line of questions/testimony was good. As I state in this essay, there is no legal reason the rescheduling process must take more than a year.

In response to the question above, Administrator Milgram offered you the following answer, identifying a letter President Biden has allegedly sent the HHS Secretary:

So, Congressman, as you know the President had sent a letter to the Secretary of HHS and to the Attorney General to ask for the scheduling, descheduling process to begin. Its now with HHS. They are in that process. They start, then they send it to DEA. We have not received it yet.

Curious, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the letter she referenced. If the President had, in fact, sent a letter to the HHS Secretary to initiate the rescheduling process, the HHS Secretary would have that letter, right?

Wrong. HHS tells me that letter does not exist. More accurately, it says that the HHS Secretary—to whom the letter was allegedly sent—does not have it. Receipts:

Rep. Gaetz, I am not one of your constituents. Nor have I given any money to your campaign. But is there any chance you can do a fellow Matthew a solid? Could you work some FIREBRAND magic and follow up with DEA about the letter? You may have more luck than I did in getting it, “Florida Man.”

XOXO

Matthew C. Zorn