The Biden administration is poised to make a historic shift in the federal government’s stance on marijuana with a proposed plan that would no longer consider marijuana among the most dangerous and addictive substances.
In what would be the biggest change in marijuana policy taken by the federal government since pot was first banned, the Drug Enforcement Administration will accept public comments on a plan to reclassify the marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act, according to a source familiar with the proceedings. The news was first reported by The Associated Press.
The Justice Department will send its recommendation to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug to the White House Office of Management and Budget, according to the source, who was not authorized to speak. publicly The Justice Department is expected to pass on the recommendation today, the source said.
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The plan would not legalize marijuana at the federal level, but would reclassify it from a Schedule I drug considered highly dangerous, addictive and with no medical use to a Schedule III drug that can be legally prescribed as a medicine. Marijuana has been a Schedule I drug since the Controlled Substances Act was signed into law in 1970.
It is important that these federal agencies, and the DEA and FDA in particular, publicly acknowledge for the first time what many patients and advocates have known for decades: that cannabis is a safe and effective therapeutic agent for tens of millions of Americans ” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, which advocates for cannabis to be completely removed from the list of controlled substances.
This bureaucratic move is just one small step toward what advocates hope will be full legalization of the drug. However, the proposed new classification does not fully address the inconsistencies between federal restrictions and the laws of a growing number of states that have authorized the medical and recreational use of pot.
Twenty-four states and Washington, DC, have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, and 14 more states allow it for medical use, according to the Pew Research Center.
The rescheduling of the cannabis plant to Schedule III does not adequately address this conflict, as existing state legalization laws, both for adult use and for medicine, will continue to conflict with federal regulations, thereby perpetuating the existing divide between state and federal marijuana policies,” Armentano said. a statement.
The federal proposal to reschedule marijuana would have broad support among voters. A national survey commissioned last fall by the Coalition for Cannabis Rescheduling Reform found that nearly 60% of likely voters supported rescheduling, with 65% of younger voters between the ages of 18 and 25, the highest of all demographics surveyed. Overall, the number of Americans who think marijuana should be legal hit a record 70 percent, according to a Gallup poll in the fall.
For decades, marijuana has been listed under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. The law classifies drugs based on their potential for abuse, addiction and medical use. Schedule I drugs are prohibited by federal law and are not considered acceptable for medical use.
In 2022, President Joe Biden ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a review of how marijuana is classified; and last year HHS recommended that it be rescheduled to Schedule III, along with drugs like Tylenol with codeine and anabolic steroids. The Justice Department did its own analysis and reached the same conclusion, the source said.
The proposal will undergo a period of public review; the source did not say when the proposed rule would be open for public comment.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., has previously criticized federal efforts to change the classification of marijuana. Harris was a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital, according to his online biography.
“Removing restrictions on an addictive gateway drug like marijuana is a dangerous mistake. Numerous studies, including a recent and reputable study published by JAMA, point to the negative impact that recreational marijuana has on the body and brain ,” Harris said in one Social Media Tuesday Post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Experts previously told USA TODAY that placing marijuana on Schedule I was not based on credible scientific evidence of its dangers, but once it was listed, researchers and advocates faced a major burden to try to demonstrate that it should not face such harsh restrictions.
What exactly does it mean to reprogram cannabis?
Marijuana’s placement in Schedule III places it alongside drugs, such as ketamine, testosterone, anabolic steroids or Tylenol with codeine, that have a moderate or low potential for physical and psychological dependence, according to the DEA.
Schedule III drugs may be legally prescribed by licensed health care providers and dispensed by licensed pharmacies. The rescheduling could also help resolve a massive federal tax burden that has been placed on cannabis companies that were effectively treated as drug traffickers for tax purposes.
But rescheduling marijuana doesn’t make recreational use legal and doesn’t change much of current state cannabis programs, said Jay Wexler, who teaches a seminar on marijuana laws at Boston University. It would be a controlled substance even with the new ad
Wexler and other experts and policy advocates say the rescheduling is not a solution, but it could be a sign that the federal government is catching up with public opinion and the consensus in the medical field that there are therapeutic benefits. for marijuana, along with some risks.
“The 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 the move to reschedule marijuana is largely due to its lower risk to public health, federal scientists have said.
In a leaked HHS document, officials wrote to the DEA to support downgrading it to Schedule III. HHS researchers said its risk of addiction was lower than other drugs and it had medical benefits, unlike Schedule I and II drugs.
Even so, the scientists said, users develop moderate to low physical dependence and there is some risk of psychological dependence. However, they noted, withdrawal symptoms are relatively mild compared to alcohol. Marijuana is more comparable to tobacco, they said.
There are no known marijuana overdose deaths, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA. But it does affect physical and mental health.
Marijuana can cause permanent loss of IQ for people who start using it at a young age, the institute said. In addition, long-term use has been associated with paranoia and temporary hallucinations, and may exacerbate symptoms in disorders such as schizophrenia, NIDA said.
Marijuana smoke has a similar impact on health as tobacco smoke. NIDA found that people who smoke marijuana often have respiratory problems, similar to those who smoke tobacco.
Smoking cannabis, the most common way to consume the drug, may have additional risks due to the particles a person inhales, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The researchers noted that cannabis smoke is not that different from tobacco smoke, the only difference being the added effect of the psychoactive drug THC in marijuana instead of nicotine in tobacco.
Respiratory problems include daily coughing, phlegm and an increased risk of lung infections, but the institute said it is unclear whether marijuana causes an increased risk of lung cancer.
Smoking marijuana also increases heart rate, which can increase the chance of a heart attack, especially among the elderly and those with heart disease. The Heart Association journal study linked 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 and, in particular, the risks of cardiovascular disease, the study’s lead author, Abra Jeffers, a data analyst at the ‘Boston General Hospital of Massachusetts. The perception of the harmfulness of smoking cannabis is decreasing and people have not considered the use of cannabis to be dangerous to their health. However, previous research suggested that cannabis might be associated with cardiovascular disease. He noted that smoking cannabis, which is the predominant form of cannabis use, could pose other risks because it involves inhaling particles.
In the study published in late February, researchers examined data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey of more than 400,000 adults between 2016 and 2020, analyzing self-reported cannabis use with cardiovascular outcomes, such as heart disease, 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 non-users.
The proposal reflects the potential for health benefits
The cannabis plant has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries, if not millennia. It appears to help treat pain, insomnia, anxiety, and glaucoma, among other health conditions. Still, the evidence is mixed and more research is needed on its health benefits, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said in August.
Although the FDA has not approved the cannabis plant for any medical use, federal regulators have approved several medications that contain cannabinoids, or substances such as THC or CBD found in the cannabis plant, according to the National Institutes of Health Health.
These include Epidiolex, a purified form of CBD taken orally, which is FDA-approved to treat seizures associated with two severe forms of epilepsy. Marinol and Syndros contain synthetic THC and are used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. Nabilone, another synthetic similar to THC, is approved as a brand-name drug Cesamet for people with HIV/AIDS who experience weight loss and loss of appetite.
A 2017 federal report found that cannabis or cannabinoids were more likely to reduce pain symptoms in chronic pain patients. In addition, there is some evidence that cannabis is effective in treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, especially in treating stiff or rigid muscles caused by the disease. A cannabinoid drug, nabiximol, a mouth spray containing both THC and CBD, has been approved in several countries, but not in the US. Under the brand name Sativex, it has been shown to relieve pain for people with cancer or multiple sclerosis.
Other research has looked at the use of cannabis to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, but the NIH said the evidence is mixed.
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