Law Dept Of HHS: Marijuana Should Be A Schedule III Drug

[sickc0d3r]

U.S. health agency recommends easing federal restrictions on marijuana

“WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services is formally recommending that the Drug Enforcement Administration ease government restrictions on marijuana, which remains illegal at the federal level even though 40 states allow its use in some form.

The move comes 11 months after President Joe Biden ordered the top health agency to conduct a review of the drug. The recommendation is to move marijuana from what’s known as a Schedule I drug to Schedule III, under the Controlled Substances Act.


In the eyes of the DEA, cannabis is in the same category as other Schedule I drugs like heroin and LSD, meaning it’s considered to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.

A spokesperson for HHS said it has “expeditiously” responded to the directive in providing its recommendation to the DEA on Tuesday.

If the DEA were to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III, it would most notably eliminate an IRS code intended to prevent drug dealers from claiming tax deductions for business expenses.

That alone could save the marijuana industry hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Small-business owners who spoke to NBC News said the inability to deduct what would otherwise be ordinary business expenses is their single biggest financial burden.

Now that HHS has made its recommendation, all eyes are on the DEA, which has the ultimate authority on scheduling substances.

The Biden administration had hoped to announce the rescheduling of the drug sometime in the fall, around the one-year mark of the president's request for the review, according to five sources familiar with planning. It's not yet clear how long the DEA’s public review process will take.
…”

Smoke ‘em if you get ‘em. I think it’s the right move, and a long time coming. MJ doesn’t belong in a category with heroine and pcp.

How does the WR come down on this issue? The bolded was interesting to me, I hadn’t really thought of it before. Good for MJ businesses, and the way it’s worded it sounds like even your local drug dealer would be able to claim expenses.

 

[BFoe]

It very clearly isn’t a Schedule 1, that’s been apparent for decades. I think reducing it to Schedule III or IV makes sense. What’s amazing to me is that the benzodiazepines (Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, etc.) are Schedule IV.

 

[AWilder]

schedule 3 is a hell of a lot more accurate than schedule 1.

 

[Fedor>Cain]

It should just be made completely legal. It's safer than cigarettes and alcohol.

Be nice if the old fucks in our Congress would actually do something.

 

[Fedor>Cain]

It very clearly isn’t a Schedule 1, that’s been apparent for decades. I think reducing it to Schedule III or IV makes sense. What’s amazing to me is that the benzodiazepines (Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, etc.) are Schedule IV.

I wasn't even aware of this

 

[MetalGearTrump]

It should just be made completely legal. It's safer than cigarettes and alcohol.

Be nice if the old fucks in our Congress would actually do something.

I never got in trouble when I smoked weed. Any trouble I have had was with alcohol.

But my job frowns upon weed as does the federal government. Bastards the lot of em

 

[PhitePhan]

The “War on Drugs” has to be one of the most backwards, destructive, irrational and unscientific positions/policies our government has ever forced upon the population… sure this is a step in the right direction, but it’s several decades too late.

 

[Fedor>Cain]

I never got in trouble when I smoked weed. Any trouble I have had was with alcohol.

But my job frowns upon weed as does the federal government. Bastards the lot of em

I've always been pro-recreational drug use. It's pretty obvious which ones are more addictive and harmful isn't it?

 

[Scheme]

The “War on Drugs” has to be one of the most backwards, destructive, irrational and unscientific positions/policies our government has ever forced upon the population… sure this is a step in the right direction, but it’s several decades too late.

War on drugs seems to work fine in Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Problem with America is it's porous borders and high demand for these drugs have made strict enforcement almost impossible.

 

[sickc0d3r]

The “War on Drugs” has to be one of the most backwards, destructive, irrational and unscientific positions/policies our government has ever forced upon the population… sure this is a step in the right direction, but it’s several decades too late.

Brings up a good question. How would this change affect “the war on drugs”? I’m not even sure how much effort is currently put into stopping illegal marijuana trade, with like 40 states having some form of legal usage. I’d have to assume this would have the effect of making it effectively legal, in that law enforcement is likely to commit fewer resources towards hunting down smuggling and sales of MJ.

 

[SKYNET]

the fact that weed is, and ever was classified in the same group as heroin should tell you all you need to know about the ruling powers that be, in Washington DC.

The last 2 POTUS should tell you all you need to know about the adamantine (uni) party system that will remain in power in Washington DC for the foreseeable future

 

[Red Dragoniop]

meanwhile everyone is calling it hemp now and its basically sold everywhere

 

[Sinister]

War on drugs seems to work fine in Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Problem with America is it's porous borders and high demand for these drugs have made strict enforcement almost impossible.

Strict enforcement happens literally every single day, we dump billions upon billions of tax dollars on militarized police, prisons where drug dealers get harsher sentences than rapists, and have had plenty of zero tolerance laws. Also I don't think making the case for the kinds of Nanny States that exist in the Middle-East (theocratic) and the bigger economies like China and Japan are sound arguments. In the Middle-East the ruling class does plenty of recreational drugs without enforcing their own laws on themselves and saving that for the peasantry. Weed is illegal in Japan,.but synthetic cannabinoids that provide the same high are not. Strict Chinese drug policies have enabled Mexican Cartels, and are right now fueling declarations of desire to invade Mexico by Republican politicians who are too chicken-sh*t to admit that Mexico is just a middle-man.

When China cracked down hard on it's own pharmaceutical black market, the corporations there who produce fentanyl and export it illegally made the move of selling the precursor chemicals to the Mexican Cartels. This brought the Cartels a big revenue stream and empowered their illegal business. The same happened with methamphetamines and traffic through Myanmar, where Triads deal in precursor chemicals to other groups who mix them.and then distribute meth from there. Would have never happened with better regulation and structure of the drug trade.

 

[dirtypablo]

War on drugs seems to work fine in Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Problem with America is it's porous borders and high demand for these drugs have made strict enforcement almost impossible.

Not really. Drug use occurs in both Middle Eastern and Asian countries. People have been using mind altering substances for thousands of years, and are never going to stop. Prohibition simply doesn't work.

 

[Belaya Smert]

I find it entirely suspect we are aligning our alcohol consumption recommendations with Canadas (2 drinks a week/males. 1 drink/week for females) the week before this re-classification is purposed.

 

[Scerpi]

It should just be made completely legal. It's safer than cigarettes and alcohol.

Be nice if the old fucks in our Congress would actually do something.

Y'all completely trust the Federal Gov't, but then there's shit like this.

The Dumbasses in DC got played by Nixon designating weed as Sched 1 so he could go after hippies and the anti-war movement. Basically gave the DOJ an excuse to raid their houses. I mean, he admitted in an interview... lol.

Then the Feds went on a giant campaign about the evils of weed and how it'll fuck up your children... scaring the shit out of parents who didn't know any better.

Now, I know y'all love Democrats and now it seems y'all love the Federal Gov't (God knows why), so why hasn't any Democrat in power taken steps to remove it? Carter? Clinton? Obama? Biden? They don't even discuss it. The fucking DEA seems to thrive on it being illegal.

I'll fully admit Republicans are fucking retarded on weed... mostly. I'd put Texas as an outlier... There's fucking weed everywhere... In the cities and in rural communities. No one gives a fuck here. Fuck... My X had family who have ranch land in Magnolia and they have a giant plantation going. lol... Dude is so fucking high usually, he's basiclly cross eyed most of the time.

In fact, I bet privately, most Republican Politicians would support legalizing it... Its the hardcore religious right that would have a shit fit.

But guess what.. Its time for Republicans to realize younger conservatives (even religious) aren't as pyscho about this shit as their grandparents. Weed has nowhere the negative connotation it did when I was a kid in the late 70's/early 80's. I probably don't give a shit because my dad was in a band and I basically grew up around it.

 

[Fedor>Cain]

Y'all completely trust the Federal Gov't, but then there's shit like this.

The Dumbasses in DC got played by Nixon designating weed as Sched 1 so he could go after hippies and the anti-war movement. Basically gave the DOJ an excuse to raid their houses. I mean, he admitted in an interview... lol.

Then the Feds went on a giant campaign about the evils of weed and how it'll fuck up your children... scaring the shit out of parents who didn't know any better.

Now, I know y'all love Democrats and now it seems y'all love the Federal Gov't (God knows why), so why hasn't any Democrat in power taken steps to remove it? Carter? Clinton? Obama? Biden? They don't even discuss it. The fucking DEA seems to thrive on it being illegal.

I'll fully admit Republicans are fucking retarded on weed... mostly. I'd put Texas as an outlier... There's fucking weed everywhere... In the cities and in rural communities. No one gives a fuck here. Fuck... My X had family who have ranch land in Magnolia and they have a giant plantation going. lol... Dude is so fucking high usually, he's basiclly cross eyed most of the time.

In fact, I bet privately, most Republican Politicians would support legalizing it... Its the hardcore religious right that would have a shit fit.

But guess what.. Its time for Republicans to realize younger conservatives (even religious) aren't as pyscho about this shit as their grandparents. Weed has nowhere the negative connotation it did when I was a kid in the late 70's/early 80's. I probably don't give a shit because my dad was in a band and I basically grew up around it.

I love how you assume liberals and the left love the federal government lmao. What the fuck LOL?

It's not the left trying to use the federal government to ban access to healthcare for millions of women and trying to strip away voting rights.

The answer that you don't want to hear is that a majority of the democratic party is conservative. And a good chunk of them take money from pharmaceutical companies that want to keep weed illegal. You guys seem to think people like Biden and Kamala Harris are liberals when they have much more in common with neocons than they have in common with the liberal left. The maga chodes are just so far into right wing crazy land that they think senile grandpa Joe is a fucking liberal...jfc

Actual liberals do not want government making medical decisions for them, they don't want the religious rights forcing bigotry and Jesus down their throats, and want rights for everybody.

The right doesn't care about much other than lobbyist bribes or they are religious bigots lol. They love to scream reee the federal government doesn't work as they intentionally fuck shit up. A good chunk of Democrats fall into that camp as well. The unfortunate truth is that on a national level, liberals are left to choose between the democratic neocons and or the conservative Christian fascists that want to strip away basic human rights.

 

[Scerpi]

I love how you assume liberals and the left love the federal government lmao. What the fuck LOL?

It's not the left trying to use the federal government to ban access to healthcare for millions of women and trying to strip away voting rights.

The answer that you don't want to hear is that a majority of the democratic party is conservative. And a good chunk of them take money from pharmaceutical companies that want to keep weed illegal. You guys seem to think people like Biden and Kamala Harris are liberals when they have much more in common with neocons than they have in common with the liberal left. The maga chodes are just so far into right wing crazy land that they think senile grandpa Joe is a fucking liberal...jfc

Actual liberals do not want government making medical decisions for them, they don't want the religious rights forcing bigotry and Jesus down their throats, and want rights for everybody.

The right doesn't care about much other than lobbyist bribes or they are religious bigots lol. They love to scream reee the federal government doesn't work as they intentionally fuck shit up. A good chunk of Democrats fall into that camp as well. The unfortunate truth is that on a national level, liberals are left to choose between the democratic neocons and or the conservative Christian fascists that want to strip away basic human rights.

Hahaha... just stop. The far left have become just as or more Authortarian than the old Christian right ever was.

The days of the anti-establishment classic liberal hippies are long gone

You're embarrassing yourself

 

[Cherry Brigand]

Junkies are leaping for Junkie Joy in their Junkie Hearts! Yay Junkies! The standards have been lowered almost enough so you can legally Junkie without consequences! Yay Junkies!

 

[lifelessheap]

Full legalization is needed.

Land of the Free? SMH.