Trump To Sign EO Changing The Status Of Marijuana

As I’ve said many times, I really do not care if people smoke marijuana. I don’t, I do not find getting high to be fun. I also do not care for getting drunk. But, it really is no big deal, as long as there are restrictions like not smoking in public. I do not care to smell it

Trump expected to sign order reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that would reschedule marijuana to a lower drug classification, according to two sources familiar with the planning, in one of the most significant changes to drug policy in decades.

One source cautioned that while the plan is for the order to be signed Thursday, the timing could shift.

The order is expected to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Schedule I applies to substances with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse” — the agency’s most stringent classification, which is also for heroin, LSD and ecstasy in addition to marijuana.

The DEA uses Schedule III for substances “with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.” Other Schedule III drugs include Tylenol with codeine, testosterone, anabolic steroids and ketamine

Um, they’re all pretty controlled, and, didn’t Matthew Perry die from ketamine? He sure seemed hooked.

Moving the drug to a lower schedule would not change the fact that it remains illegal for recreational use at the federal level. But it could open the door to more research into marijuana and expanded medical uses. It might also lower the tax burden for state-licensed marijuana dispensaries in the dozens of states that have legalized the drug, since federal law bars businesses that sell Schedule I substances from taking some tax deductions.

The big question here is “does a president have the statuatory authority to change a drug’s schedule position?”

The Biden-era Department of Health and Human Services also recommended bumping marijuana down to Schedule III. The Justice Department, the DEA’s parent agency, proposed a rule to reschedule marijuana last year, but the process became mired in over a year of legal and administrative wrangling, leaving the drug in Schedule I status.

It really either needs to be done by a vote in Congress or through the rule making process from HHS or DEA. What will Trump’s EO state? Will it simply make marijuana a Schedule III, or start the review process? I guess we’ll see.

Oh, and will Democrats and the rest of the Never Trump now be against marijuana?