Roger O. Egeberg

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Roger O. Egeberg, M.D. in addition to serving as General Douglas MacArthur's personal physician during WWII in the Pacific Theater, served as Assistant Secretary of Health in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now the United States Department of Health and Human Services) during the Richard Nixon administration. Prior to his service in the Nixon administration, he was the dean of the University of Southern California's medical school. Egeberg died on September 13, 1997.

Egeberg's stance that penalties for marijuana offenses were excessive led to reduction of simple possession from a felony to a misdemeanor. In 1970, the committee reviewing the Controlled Substances Act requested his advice on how marijuana should be regulated. In retrospect, one of the most far-reaching letters he ever wrote was this letter to Harley O. Staggers, Chairman of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, which led to marijuana being "temporarily" placed in Schedule I, the most tightly-controlled category of drugs:

"Dear Mr. Chairman: In a prior communication, comments requested by your committee on the scientific aspects of the drug classification scheme incorporated in H.R. 18583 were provided. This communication is concerned with the proposed classification of marihuana.

"It is presently classed in schedule I(C) along with its active constituents, the tetrahydrocannibinols and other psychotropic drugs.

"Some question has been raised whether the use of the plant itself produces "severe psychological or physical dependence" as required by a schedule I or even schedule II criterion. Since there is still a considerable void in our knowledge of the plant and effects of the active drug contained in it, our recommendation is that marihuana be retained within schedule I at least until the completion of certain studies now underway to resolve the issue. If those studies make it appropriate for the Attorney General to change the placement of marihuana to a different schedule, he may do so in accordance with the authority provided under section 201 of the bill. . .

"Sincerely yours, (signed) Roger O. Egeberg, M.D."

Egeberg only intended that marijuana remain in Schedule I until the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse completed its report. However, Nixon refused to implement the Commission's recommendation that marijuana be legalized, and the drug remains in Schedule I today. Egeberg's letter has been cited in several petitions for cannabis rescheduling in the United States.