(AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, The Associated Press has learned, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple effects across the country.
The proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.
The agency's move, confirmed to the AP on Tuesday by five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive regulatory review, clears the last significant regulatory hurdle before the agency’s biggest policy change in more than 50 years can take effect.
Once OMB signs off, the DEA will take public comment on the plan to move marijuana from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD. It moves pot to Schedule III, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids, following a recommendation from the federal Health and Human Services Department. After the public comment period and a review by an administrative judge, the agency would eventually publish the final rule.
President Joe Biden may eventually ban TikTok, but he's moving to give something back to the young people who dominate the popular social media app — a looser federal grip on marijuana.
Facing softening support from a left-leaning voting group that will be crucial to his reelection hopes in November, Biden has made a number of election-year moves intended to appeal in particular to younger voters. His move toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug is just the latest, coming weeks after he canceled student loans for another 206,000 borrowers. He has also made abortion rights central to his case for reelection.
The push to highlight issues that resonate with younger voters comes as Biden fights to hold together the coalition that sent him to the White House in 2020.
Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, is battling a perception among voters that he's lost a step as he's aged. Discontent with his handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has exploded into unrest on college campuses. While inflation has ebbed from its peak and the job market remains strong, polls show Americans still blame Biden for high prices and high interest rates, which are squeezing first-time buyers out of the housing market.
A proposal by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.
Biden called for a review of federal marijuana law in October 2022 and moved to pardon thousands of Americans convicted federally of simple possession of the drug. He has also called on governors and local leaders to take similar steps to erase marijuana convictions.
“The American people have made clear in state after state that cannabis legalization is inevitable,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat and an early proponent of easing marijuana laws, said in a statement. "The Biden-Harris administration is listening."
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both touted their support for marijuana law reform to mark the 4/20 cannabis holiday at exactly 4:20 p.m. Saturday.
