For decades, the federal government has classified cannabis as a Schedule I substance, deeming it to have a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use in treatment” in the United States. But now, half a century after the Controlled Substances Act placed marijuana alongside heroin and LSD in terms of its perceived dangers, pot’s days as one of the nation’s most incongruously restricted substances may be nearing an end.
Last week, The Associated Press reported the Biden administration was on the cusp of reclassifying cannabis from a Schedule I to Schedule III narcotic — a move that would overturn years of drug policy precedent, and dramatically change the way the government engages with a substance used at one point or another by approximately half the country, according to a recent Gallup poll. The process is not a simple one, with any eventual reclassification occurring only after a series of various administrative hurdles, public comment period, and final judicial review. Still, the reclassification of cannabis would mark a new era in America’s often contradictory relationship with a substance already legalized in one form or another in more than half the states. Crucially, reclassification isn’t full federal legalization. So what would the administration’s more permissive pot posture actually do?
Scientific study and medical moves
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