Since 1970, marijuana has been listed on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Reserved Drugs that have a „high potential for abuse,“ have „no currently accepted medical use,“ and are not safe to use, even under medical supervision.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has consistently was denied Petition to reclassify marijuana, citing advice from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, HHS changed that advice in August 2023, explaining the rationale: document The report, released five months later, confirms that the classification of marijuana has always been a political rather than a medical issue.
HHS was responding to an October 2022 directive from President Joe Biden. instructed It called for the department and Attorney General Merrick Garland to „initiate an administrative proceeding to expeditiously review how marijuana is defined under federal law.“biden I got it. „We put marijuana on the same level as heroin“ and treat it as „more serious than fentanyl,“ which „makes no sense,“ he said.After conducting its review, HHS Recommendation DEA moving marijuana to Schedule III It contains Prescription drugs such as ketamine, Tylenol with codeine, and anabolic steroids.
As recently as 2016, HHS still saying Marijuana should remain on Schedule I. Marijuana conversion is not based on new scientific evidence. This is based on a reinterpretation of Schedule I standards and could have been implemented sooner.
The DEA has long maintained that a substance can only have a „currently accepted medical use“ if there is sufficient evidence to meet the Food and Drug Administration's prescription drug approval requirements. HHS substituted his questionable understanding of the law for a two-part test that considered his clinical experience with marijuana. 38 states It has approved medical uses and asks whether one or more uses have „credible scientific support.“ HHS found such assistance in treating pain, nausea, vomiting, and „medical condition-related anorexia.“
Regarding abuse potential and safety, HHS states that marijuana is not used in other forms of abuse, such as heroin (Schedule I), cocaine (Schedule II), benzodiazepines such as Valium and Xanax (Schedule IV), and alcohol (unscheduled). He pointed out that it is comparable to „drugs.“ „The vast majority of individuals who use marijuana do so in ways that do not pose dangerous consequences to themselves or others,“ the report said.
This was not news to most Americans. Back in 1988, DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge concluded The marijuana did not meet Schedule I standards, only to be rejected by the agency's head. This time, the outcome is likely to be different, given HHS's belated reversal.