US proposes historic law to reclassify marijuana as “low-risk drug”

Washington, United States:

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday formally proposed reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic change that would bring federal policy more in line with public opinion.

“No one should be arrested just for using or possessing marijuana. Period,” Biden said in a video statement.

“Too many lives have been destroyed because of a failed approach to marijuana, and I am committed to righting those wrongs.”

Marijuana has been classified since 1970 as a so-called Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) – the same level as heroin, ecstasy and LSD. This classification means it is considered to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

But it would be downgraded to a Schedule III drug under the proposal, placing it alongside medications such as ketamine and codeine-containing painkillers that are considered to have a moderate to low likelihood of addiction.

That wouldn’t make it legal, but it could lead to fewer arrests at the federal level.

The proposed reclassification of cannabis was released by the Biden administration in late April and the Department of Justice officially launched the process on Thursday.

Marijuana will remain a controlled substance until the process — which includes a public comment period and a possible hearing before a judge — is completed.

In 2022, Biden became the first president to initiate a federal review of marijuana policy.

Racist past

The issue is seen as a potential vote-winner for Biden as he faces Republican Donald Trump in a tough electoral fightback in November, especially among younger people the Democratic incumbent is struggling to woo.

A Pew Research Center survey found that 88% of Americans believe marijuana should be legal for medicinal or recreational use. Only 11 percent said it shouldn’t be legal.

Cannabis was first banned at the federal level in 1937, a decision that critics say was made largely based on racist ideas, as the drug was seen as being closely linked to jazz music, the black community and to Mexican immigrants.

The 1970s brought the “War on Drugs,” which also disproportionately targeted minorities — before the medical marijuana movement took root in the 1990s. In 2012, U.S. states began legalizing recreational cannabis for adults.

Cannabis is now a multibillion-dollar business in the United States, with more than half of all states legalizing the recreational and medicinal use of cannabis, including California and New York.

But numbers show that racial minorities, particularly black Americans, are overrepresented in marijuana arrests.

“This decision is monumental,” the civil rights organization NAACP said on X, formerly Twitter.

“Too many Black Americans have been victims of a system designed for their demise.”

Boost the legal industry

Since the drug remains a nationally controlled substance, everyone involved is still technically breaking the law of the land.

The classification makes it difficult for marijuana industry companies to access banking services, halts federal funding for medical marijuana research, and impedes interstate commerce as well as federal regulation of marijuana best practices and protocols.

A reclassification would also allow companies to deduct their operating expenses from their taxes, which is currently prohibited.

Thursday’s decision “will unlock important research into the medical efficacy of cannabis and bring real change to legal operators,” Matt Darin, CEO of Curaleaf, said in a statement to AFP.

On Wall Street, industrial stocks rose, with Curaleaf gaining 1.07% and Verano Holdings 0.69%.

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)