The federal war on marijuana has entered the end game.
Today, President Biden personally announced that his Justice Department will reclassify marijuana to help end the failed war on weed.
“This is monumental,” said President Biden. “Today my administration took a major step to reclassify marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3—it’s an important move to reverse longstanding inequities.”
The announcement builds on work toward pardoning people for simple possession of weed, and lifting barriers to housing, jobs, and small business loans, the President said.
Look folks, no one should be in jail for merely using or possessing marijuana. Period. Far too many lives have been upended because of a failed approach to marijuana, and I’m committed to righting those wrongs. You have my word on it.”
President Biden
President Biden said cannabis’ current classification doesn’t hold up, and his Administration has reviewed the science, and it’s time to move it.
“Right now, marijuana has a higher-level classification than fentanyl and methamphetamine – the two drugs driving America’s overdose epidemic. That just doesn’t add up,” stated President Biden.
“At my request, and guided by science and evidence, HHS and DOJ have studied the drug’s medical use and abuse and dependency potential and are recommending rescheduling–concluding reclassification would remove barriers to critical research.”
The President’s decision will begin a 60-day comment period before the re-classification occurs.
Justice Department files historic paperwork
Over at the US Department of Justice, historic reclassification documents have gone live. The Attorney General has filed paperwork to reclassify weed—called a notice of rulemaking. In the documents, the Justice Department notes that cannabis does have medical use. Prior assessments of weed were too “impermissibly narrow“, the DOJ states.
The documents show the Department of Justice moving forward despite Drug Enforcement Administration intransigence. The DEA wanted to make its own medical assessment of weed, and claimed re-scheduling would violate international treaties.
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