Indopedia All Things Marijuana
The draconian Schedule I status of cannabis in federal drug law for the last half century has been of one country’s most harmful deceits. For decades cannabis reformers have sought to have marijuana down scheduled from the totally restrictive Schedule I, to Schedule II. But any simple rescheduling still would leave cannabis an illegal federal drug. Much better, and now on the table, is de-scheduling, removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (and the clutches of the DEA). Cannabis could be and should be classified with alcohol and cigarettes, even though it is far safer than these legal substances.
Schedule I
The marijuana-law reforming CARERS Act, now languishing at the neglect of Senator Chuck (Ghastly) Grassley, seeks to down-schedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II. This single step has been a long-sought goal of reformers and would be significant; many of the worst legal harms would be removed by that modest rescheduling. Research on health benefits of cannabis would become possible, as marijuana would no longer be defined as medically useless. Mandatory minimum sentences, enforced because of cannabis’ Schedule I status, would no longer…
