Marijuana has a lower potential for abuse than other drugs that are subjected to the same restrictions, with scientific support for its use as a medical treatment, researchers from the US Food and Drug Administration say in documents supporting its reclassification as a Schedule III substance.
Marijuana is currently classified as Schedule I, reserved for the most dangerous controlled substances, including heroin and LSD. In 2022, President Joe Biden asked US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and the attorney general to begin the administrative process of reviewing how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Rachel Levine wrote a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration in August in which she supported the reclassification to Schedule III, a list that includes “drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence” such as ketamine, testosterone and Tylenol with codeine.
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Rescheduling marijuana could open up more avenues for research, allow cannabis businesses to bank more freely and openly, and have firms no longer subject to a 40-year-old tax code that disallows credits and deductions from income generated by sales of Schedule I and II substances.
Even naming heroin and LSD in the same breath is laughably unhinged
It’s inherently problematic that the DEA is in charge of scheduling
Rescheduling marijuana would likely lead to a lower budget for the DEA… No way is the DEA going to voluntarily lower the scheduling of such a widely used drug
im pretty sure the dea smokes now hemp tho
Smoking hemp leads to disappointment and headaches.
Source: got fooled while driving through Nebraska.
There is an interesting loophole active right now in the US, a person can buy ‘high THCA hemp flower’, which is identical in composition to bud sold at a recreational dispensary, and it is not regulated and can be shipped across state lines legally through even the USPS. There might be some restrictions in certain states, but you can see an example of this bud here: https://www.luckyelk.com/buy/thca/overview
So long as the THC content is below 0.3% it is not considered cannabis in the same way federally apparently. But most smokable weed has very low THC and high THCA, which is converted to THC when burned, so this bud that falls in this category is just as good as stuff you can get from a dispensary often.
They don’t get money based on how many drugs are illegal. Not to mention, they like to go after big dealers which some will continue to import illegally or grow it in illegal ways. The DEA will still come after them.
Oh sweet summer child… The dea absolutely loses money if MJ is legalized.
They get money based on the resources needed to tackle illegal drug manufacturing/sales/usage
The more widely used an illegal drug is, the more resources they need to fight it
Reminder that the most dangerous drug in terms of deaths caused per capita is alcohol. Refined sugar and HFCS probably has alcohol’s numbers beat if you consider that a drug though.
When I wasn’t in a position to decide my own client list, I used to hate working for some of the large companies with high sugar products. Felt like consulting for Philip Morris or something. I remember one corporate HQ had giant posters in their cafeteria talking about how scientists didn’t find a causative relationship between sugar and childhood health complications, and it felt just like the classic “nine out of ten doctors recommended XYZ brand cigarettes.”
But let’s be fair, if every bar and liquor store switched to selling meth and kids dad’s brought them their first meth on their twenty first birthday, weddings had a traditional opening the meth moment, etc then things would be a lot worse.
It never should have been “classified” or “scheduled”.
Or alcohol should be schedule 1.
Cannabis being a “schedule 1” drug (one of the safest drugs we can consume) while alcohol (an extremely dangerous [to society and individuals] drug that is also addictive) is UNSCHEDULED and PROMOTED is beyond absurd.
Make anything make sense.
Doctor, my wife left me for my brother. May I please have a medicinal alcohol license?
Here’s some change. Get yourself a nice liquor store and a handgun.
A whole store? Golly, doc, you’re the best.
I may have just nose snorted beer onto the back of a small child while reading this.
Money. That’s how it makes sense.
It goes deeper than that. They could be making money from weed instead of alcohol.
The answer is existing wealth and power structures.
Alcohol would at worst be schedule 2 since it has medical use. It’s the cure to methanol poisoning and ethylene glycol poisoning.
Damn dude, your comment made me look up the actual classes. For anyone else:
Schedule 1: high chance of addiction and no professional use; weex, lsd, ecstacy, peyote
Schedule 2: high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence. Considered dangerous; cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, oxycodone, fentanyl, Dexedrine, Adderall
Schedule 3: moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence; ketamine, anabolic steroids, testosterone
Schedule 4: low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence; Xanax, Soma, Darvon, Darvocet, Valium, Ativan, Talwin, Ambien, Tramadol
Schedule 5: generally used for antidiarrheal, antitussive, and analgesic purposes; Lomotil, Motofen, Lyrica, Parepectolin
Marijuana is currently classified as Schedule I, reserved for the most dangerous controlled substances, including heroin and LSD.
Fucking christ lmao.
LSD doesn’t belong on Schedule I either.
The reason for this has often been thought due to prison and possibly even tobacco lobbyists. Dunno about the second one, though the first certainly has the numbers to back it up, and the history. The history itself is quite the rabbit hole that begins in the U.S. back around the late 1930s. Though the drug itself has been around for hundreds of years, according to study.
Sadly, due to the times we live in, just ask yourself what the modern Republican party would want to claim. Who uses Marijuana and for what reasons and you’ll probably land on why this became a fiasco in the first place.
I was just highlighting how absurd it is to consider heroin and lsd in the same category at all.
Agreed. Not even remotely comparable to each other from an addiction/damage potential standpoint. LSD is entirely non-addictive habit forming, while heroin is the polar opposite. In terms of health damage, you can’t die from doing too much LSD, but you can from heroin (easily).
All in all, it’s like comparing apples to heroin. Or cake to heroin. Or pizza to heroin. Or LSD to heroin.
Though the drug itself has been around for hundreds of years
Longer than that. There is credible evidence that humans have been using cannabis for at least about as long as we’ve been brewing alcohol. Ancient religious relics recovered from archeological digs have been tested and shown cannabis residue.
But my profits!!!
- alcohol and prison companies
Was this the review Biden asked for awhile back?
Yes,I believe so
It’s coming this summer. It’s a political winner for Diamond Joe.
Yeah it’s pretty big
This is nothing new. Nixon commissioned a report that said the exact same thing 50 years ago.
Of course fucking Nixon ignored the report so that he and the rest of the right fuckos could use pot as a legal (and often physical of course) cudgel against black people and hippies.
I wonder what pain relief drugs would be available if the Executive Branch followed science.
Cannabis has always been cannabis.
It has always been safe.
i have a feeling biden will finally get this done right before the election. hopefully this will mobilize the young enough to combat the hoards of jug hooters
My guess is he promises to get it done next term tho
And then doesn’t do it.
The blame will depend on whether Republicans have control of a house of Congress. If they refuse to put it through the Republican-controlled Senate then it tracks that a Democratic presidential candidate would promise it but be unable to deliver due to the opposing party.
Blame him if he gets complete control and doesn’t do it, blame the other party if they stop him from doing it.
I’m not going to give him credit for something he hasn’t accomplished.
But when we complain that we still can’t buy pot in our state we’ll get 4 replies 10 paragraphs long with citations all smugly telling us that we don’t understand, he actually got “the most work done towards legalizing pot then any president since FDR”
This is the politician way.
LOL “jug hooters”… I love it!
What more does Biden need to do? They already directed HHS to consider reclassifying it from schedule I to III and HHS made their recommendation to the DEA who classifies the drugs. I thought it was up to the DEA now?
He said we’d look into it, so it’s accomplished!
The executive branch is a bureaucracy that has to follow procedures. The president can direct the agency to start these processes, and that’s what he done. The HHS has done the necessary work to show that cannabis is deserving of a lower schedule according to the Controlled Substances Act. It is now up to the DEA to review that data and reschedule it accordingly. This is the process stipulated by the law, and the executive branch must adhere to it. If they don’t, it will be undone in the courts.
The alternative route would be for Congress to pass a new law to specifically legalize cannabis, but they do not have the numbers, so the Biden administration has to follow the process outlined in the existing laws. He’s done what he is legally able to do, and it’s more than any of his predecessors have. It may be slow, but it’s pretty much a fast as the law allows.
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The executive branch is a bureaucracy that has to follow procedures. The president can direct the agency to start these processes, and that’s what he done.
That’s great. Until it’s actually happened, it’s not an accomplishment. I’m not sure how centrists keep failing to understand this. You don’t get credit for something that hasn’t happened. Cannabis is still illegal federally. If that changes due to Biden’s efforts, I’ll happily give him credit.
But it hasn’t happened yet. This isn’t the Silmarillion. You don’t get credit for trying.
What more does Biden need to do?
Are you unable to answer the question or do you not have an answer? Is that why you resorted to snark?
Not expect praise for something that hasn’t happened?
Centrists demand credit for non-accomplishments because they prefer to accomplish nothing.
Not expect praise for something that hasn’t happened?
Where did I demand Biden be praised?
Centrists demand credit for non-accomplishments because they prefer to accomplish nothing.
When did I demand Biden get credit?
Often on social media the same people who decry one side behaving like authoritarian dictators act like it’s acceptable for their side to behave like gasp authoritarian dictators.
Yes, some people like to give undue credit but you’re just the other side of that coin shitting on any action that is taken.
Instead of engaging in the discussion you resort to snark, assumptions and insults. It’s clear you have nothing to contribute, engaging with you any further would be a waste of my time.
Have a day!
Yes, some people like to give undue credit but you’re just the other side of that coin shitting on any action that is taken.
I’ve said that I will be happy to give Biden credit for actual accomplishments. This is not an accomplishment. It could be groundwork for one, or it could be making a show of looking into it and then not following through.
Democrats squandered what remaining benefit of the doubt they had years ago. Until it’s an accomplishment, it’s a bill of goods as far as I’m concerned.
This is not an accomplishment.
It’s not, it’s what Biden can do. That’s why you still haven’t provided an example or an actual answer to the original question, what else is there for Biden to do?
it could be making a show of looking into it and then not following through.
So you don’t understand how the process works? That’s effectively what you’re saying.
There’s a system, it’s part of how that whole checks and balances thing works. Ignorance often leads to anger as you so aptly demonstrate. I honestly wonder if people who comment like you have are being intentional or are unwittingly part of the disinformation machine.
So all the guys locked up with mandatory minimum sentences will be released now, right? Right?
There are exactly zero federal prisoners incarcerated for marijuana possession.
At this point I trust cannabis more than I trust HFC. No one is trying to sneak cannabis in my food and cannabis doesn’t make me fat.
I don’t know, man… Those munchies are killer, man… /s
I know you’re joking but maaaaan if they just made my damn munchies with real sugar this wouldn’t be as big of a problem and they’d taste better, goddammit
Three decades of the munchies beat you to it. - Hermes Conrad
Ok fine if you consumed pot every day it could cause issues.
I think research has shown that every day tokers actually have a lower body fat percentage than the average. I actually get a high-protein granola from the store that has hemp seeds in it, they are high in amino acids and protein. It isn’t super obvious it has hemp in it too so in a way they did sneak cannabis into it haha.
Well no shit.
2022, Biden: We need to shore up the youth support. What do youth vote for? Student loan cancelation and Marijuana reform? Let’s try the former for 2022 and save the later for 2024.
Wait, Ketamine and lean are schedule three* drugs? I thought those were pretty addictive and pretty damaging?
Edited number
Schedule I means not legal for any purpose, so no. Ketamine is used medically and “lean” is a fairly mild opiate, and also used medically (it’s a cough syrup, where did you think it came from?). Drugs like that are schedule ii-iv.
Schedule 3
Whoops, meant to say “aren’t”
Ketamine has medical applications such as being commonly used as an anesthetic in short term procedures and with those who do not respond positively to opioids. Ketamine is classified under low addiction risk as it’s not physically addicting as in its users do not suffer from withdrawal. The problem with ketamine however is that it helps users cope with a plethora of different mental illnesses which in itself is addictive.
Glad it meets the criteria.
