Recent plans to reclassify marijuana have drawn criticism from some experts, who believe this would only exacerbate existing issues in the regulatory environment.
In March, the Biden-Harris administration announced plans to downgrade marijuana from the Schedule I class of drugs—where it currently sits alongside heroin, mescaline and LSD—to Schedule III, among drugs that carry a lower risk of dependence or abuse.
The federal government has maintained cannabis as a Schedule I substance since Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970 under President Richard Nixon.
In May, the administration moved to officially downgrade the drug, submitting the proposed rule to the Federal Register, and beginning the drawn-out process of approval.
However, in a Tuesday op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, three experts, including a drug policy researcher and two legal scholars, warned that downgrading the classification would only embed the substance into the “deeply flawed American pharmaceutical system.”
H/T: www.newsweek.com
