OAN’s Brooke Mallory
4:31pm – Tuesday, April 30, 2024
President Joe Biden has called for an overhaul of marijuana laws as he pursues reform advocates to boost his re-election campaign, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is now legally re-stating marijuana as a “less restrictive” drug. expected to be classified.
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Cannabis will be reclassified by the federal government from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, citing research into its therapeutic properties and potentially paving the way for legal prescriptions to replace a patchwork of state regulations. . Associated PressIt was reported on Tuesday’s news.
“States where recreational marijuana is prevalent are [already] Legal: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state.” CBS News report.
Meanwhile, longtime supporters of marijuana legalization say the move is a stopgap, pointing out that drugs like ketamine and codeine cough syrup remain illegal and subject to sanctions against users and distributors. Criticized that there is.
“Moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough,” said the national group Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “Make no mistake, Schedule III is neither legalization nor decriminalization. Arrests, especially of young people, will not stop.”
Marijuana, along with heroin and LSD, has been classified as a Schedule I drug for more than 50 years. This meant that the government had determined that marijuana had no recognized medical benefits and had a high potential for abuse.
However, drugs classified as Schedule II and III are still subject to strict regulations.
As a senator in the 1980s and 1990s, Biden authored some of the nation’s toughest federal drug regulations. Despite the fact that 24 states, three U.S. territories, and Washington, D.C., allow recreational use of marijuana contrary to federal law, Biden still opposes federal legalization of the drug. He claims to be against it.
Given the strong public support for cannabis legalization, with 70% of respondents in a November Gallup poll supporting the legalization of cannabis, it is generally believed that national legalization is inevitable over time. ing.
The federal legalization bill is being sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who previously called for the Justice Department to investigate Logan Paul’s Prime energy drink in 2023. was demanding. Other politicians too.
According to the report, approximately 2,700 people are currently in prison for marijuana trafficking. post.
Additionally, on the final day of his 2021 presidential term, President Trump commuted the life sentences of seven marijuana offenders imprisoned under Biden’s 1994 criminal law. President Trump commuted the sentences of other inmates Michael Pelletier, 65, who is a paraplegic, and Corvan Cooper, 41.
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