The Biden administration is poised to make landmark changes to the federal government’s stance on marijuana, unveiling a plan to declassify it as one of the most dangerous and addictive substances.
The biggest change to marijuana policy made by the federal government since marijuana was first decriminalized comes as the Drug Enforcement Administration publicly announces plans to reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act, according to people familiar with the process. The idea is to solicit comments. The news was first reported by the Associated Press.
The Justice Department plans to send a recommendation to the White House Office of Management and Budget to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug, according to a person not authorized to speak publicly. The Justice Department plans to communicate its recommendations today, sources said.
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The plan would not fully legalize marijuana at the federal level, but it would move it from being a Schedule I drug, which is considered extremely dangerous, addictive, and has no medical use, to legally prescribing it as a medicine. It will be reclassified as a Schedule III drug. Marijuana has been a Schedule I drug since the Controlled Substances Act was signed in 1970.
“These federal agencies, especially the DEA and FDA, are doing what many patients and advocates have known for decades: that cannabis is a safe and effective treatment for tens of millions of Americans. “It’s important to acknowledge this publicly for the first time,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which advocates for marijuana to be completely removed from the list of controlled substances.
The bureaucratic move is just a small step toward the full legalization of the drug that its supporters hope will happen. However, the new proposed classification does not fully address the conflict between federal regulations and the laws of a growing number of states that allow the use of cannabis for medical and recreational purposes.
According to the Pew Research Center, 24 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana use for recreational purposes, and 14 other states have approved its use for medical purposes.
“Rescheduling cannabis factories to Schedule III does not adequately address this conflict. Existing state legalization laws for both adult use and medical use continue to conflict with federal regulations and result in , it would perpetuate the gap that exists between state and federal cannabis policy,” Armentano said in a statement.
The federal government’s proposal to change the cannabis reopening schedule will receive wide support among voters. Last fall, a nationwide survey was commissioned by the agency. Cannabis Rescheduling Reform Coalition The survey found that nearly 60% of likely voters support rescheduling, and 65% of young voters ages 18 to 25 support rescheduling, which is higher than the population surveyed. This is the highest number in the group. A fall Gallup poll found that the overall number of Americans who think marijuana should be legal reached an all-time high of 70%.
For decades, marijuana has been listed as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, along with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. This law classifies drugs based on their potential for abuse, addiction, and medical use. Schedule I drugs are prohibited at the federal level and are considered to have no accepted medical use.
In 2022, President Joe Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a review of how marijuana is classified. And last year, HHS recommended switching to Schedule III along with drugs like Tylenol, which contain codeine and anabolic steroids. The Justice Department also reached a similar conclusion after conducting its own analysis, the person said.
The proposal will undergo a public review period. The official did not say when the proposed rule would be open for public comment.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) has previously criticized federal efforts to reclassify marijuana. Harris was a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital, according to his online biography.
“Removing restrictions on addictive gateway drugs like marijuana would be a dangerous mistake. Numerous studies, including a recent authoritative study published by JAMA, point to the harmful effects of recreational marijuana on the body and brain. ,” Harris said in the paper. Social media posts about X on Tuesday, Officially known as Twitter.
Experts previously told USA TODAY that marijuana’s Schedule I listing is not based on reliable scientific evidence about its dangers, but once marijuana is listed, researchers and advocates faced a heavy burden to prove that marijuana should not be subject to such strict restrictions.
What exactly does cannabis rescheduling mean?
The DEA says marijuana’s inclusion in Schedule III puts it on par with drugs with a “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence,” such as ketamine, testosterone, anabolic steroids, and Tylenol with codeine.
Schedule III drugs can be legally prescribed by a licensed health care provider and dispensed by a licensed pharmacy. The schedule change could also help resolve a large federal tax burden on cannabis companies, which were essentially considered drug traffickers for tax purposes.
But Jay Wexler, who teaches a seminar on marijuana law at Boston University, says rescheduling marijuana won’t make it legal for recreational use and that little will change about the state’s current cannabis program. He said no.Even if there is a new announcement, it remains a controlled substance.
Wexler and other policy experts and advocates say rescheduling is not the answer, but it is important that the federal government catches up with the public and medical consensus that marijuana has therapeutic benefits as well as some risks. It may be a sign that something is coming.
“Rescheduling is a step forward, but it’s not enough, and there’s no reason to keep cannabis in the Controlled Substances Act,” Wexler previously told USA TODAY.
What are the possible risks of marijuana?
Because of its classification, marijuana has been difficult to study. But federal scientists said the main reason for the move to reschedule marijuana use is because it poses a low public health risk.
In leaked HHS documents, officials sent a letter to the DEA supporting lowering the classification to Schedule III. Unlike Schedule I and Schedule II drugs, it had a lower risk of addiction than other drugs and had medical benefits, HHS researchers said.
Still, the scientists said users develop moderate to low physical dependence, and there is also some risk of psychological dependence. However, the researchers noted that withdrawal symptoms are “relatively mild” compared to alcohol. Marijuana is more like tobacco, they said.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), there are no known deaths from marijuana overdose. However, it affects physical and mental health.
The institute says marijuana can cause permanent IQ loss in people who start using it at a young age. Additionally, long-term use has been associated with temporary paranoia and hallucinations, and may worsen symptoms of diseases such as schizophrenia, NIDA said.
Marijuana smoke has similar health effects as cigarette smoke. NIDA found that people who smoke marijuana frequently develop breathing problems, similar to cigarette smokers.
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that smoking marijuana, the most common way to ingest it, may carry additional risks due to the particulate matter that people breathe in. The researchers noted that cannabis smoke is not that different from cigarette smoke, the only difference being the added effect of the psychoactive drug THC found in marijuana rather than the nicotine in cigarettes.
Respiratory problems include daily coughing and phlegm production and an increased risk of lung infections, but it is unclear whether cannabis increases the risk of lung cancer, the institute said.
Smoking marijuana also increases heart rate, which can increase the chance of a heart attack, especially in older adults and people with heart disease. A Heart Association Journal study links increased cannabis use to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
“Despite its common use, little is known about the risks of cannabis use, particularly the risks of cardiovascular disease,” said Avra, lead author of the study and a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.・Mr. Jeffers said in a statement. “Awareness of the harms of smoking cannabis is decreasing, and people no longer believe that cannabis use is dangerous to their health. However, previous research has shown that cannabis may be associated with cardiovascular disease. She noted that smoking, the primary method of cannabis use, can pose other risks because it involves inhaling particulate matter.
In a study published in late February, researchers examined data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey of more than 400,000 adults from 2016 to 2020 and found that self-reported cannabis use and heart disease We looked at cardiovascular disease outcomes such as , heart attacks, and strokes.
People who used marijuana daily were 25% more likely to have a heart attack and 42% more likely to have a stroke than those who never used marijuana.
Suggestions reflecting potential health benefits
The cannabis plant has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries, if not thousands of years. It appears to be helpful in treating pain, insomnia, anxiety, and glaucoma, among other health conditions. Still, the evidence is mixed and more research is needed into its health benefits, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said in August.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the FDA has not approved any medical uses for the cannabis plant, but the federal regulator has approved several medicines containing cannabinoids, substances found in the cannabis plant such as THC and CBD. .
These include Epidiolex, a purified form of CBD that is taken orally and is approved by the FDA to treat seizures associated with two severe forms of epilepsy. Marinol and Syndro both contain synthetic THC and are used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. Nabilone, another synthetic substance similar to THC, is approved as the brand name drug Cesamet for HIV/AIDS patients who experience weight loss and decreased appetite.
A 2017 federal report found that cannabis, or cannabinoids, is likely to reduce pain symptoms in chronic pain patients. Additionally, there is some evidence that cannabis can be effective in treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, particularly the muscle stiffness caused by multiple sclerosis. One cannabinoid drug, nabiximol, is a mouth spray containing both THC and CBD that has been approved in several countries, but not in the United States. Under the brand name Sativex, it has shown pain relief in people with cancer and multiple sclerosis.
Other studies have investigated the use of cannabis in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, but the NIH said the evidence is mixed.
