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DEA Agrees To Reschedule Marijuana Under Federal Law
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/dea...biden-directed-health-agencys-recommendation/The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has made a historic decision—agreeing with the top federal health agency and proposing to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The decision comes more than 50 years after cannabis was first listed as a strictly prohibited drug, on par with heroin and defined as a substance with no known medical value and a significant abuse potential.
Moving cannabis to another schedule will not legalize it, however. Participants in state cannabis markets would continue to run afoul of federal law, and existing criminal penalties for certain marijuana-related activity would remain in force.
DEA’s decision means it has generally accepted the findings from a nearly year-long scientific review into cannabis that HHS carried out before sharing its scheduling recommendation.
HHS determined that cannabis “has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” and has a “potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in Schedules I and II.”
“There exists widespread, current experience with medical use of the substance by [health care practitioners] operating in accordance with implemented jurisdiction-authorized programs, where medical use is recognized by entities that regulate the practice of medicine,” HHS said.
In terms of relative safety compared to other substances, the federal health review concluded that “the risks to the public health posed by marijuana are low compared to other drugs of abuse (e.g., heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines), based on an evaluation of various epidemiological databases for [emergency department] visits, hospitalizations, unintentional exposures, and most importantly, for overdose deaths.”
This is way past due and not enough, but a step in the right direction.
The majority of Americans support federal legalization, it is one of the most clear example of partisan public and big money interests obstructing the will of the people that has medical science backing.