Biden administration plans to ease nationwide marijuana restrictions: Historic Shift

Biden administration plans to ease nationwide marijuana restrictions with a reclassification effort

The Biden administration is reportedly planning to ease nationwide marijuana restrictions following a significant reclassification effort. The U.S. Department of Drug Enforcement (DEA) is on the verge of reclassifying marijuana as a lower-risk substance, in a dramatic reversal of long-standing American drug laws that could have far-reaching effects across the country as reported by Associated Press.

FILE - In this Friday, March 22, 2019, file photo, a marijuana plant is visible at Compassionate Care Foundation's medical marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple-effects across the country. The DEA’s proposal still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)(AP)

Biden administration plans to ease marijuana restrictions

A source told the news agency on Tuesday, April 30 that the DEA’s new proposal, which acknowledges the medical advantages of cannabis and its lower risk of abuse than other drugs, is in the hands of the White House office of Management and Budget. However, the DEA proposal doesn’t “directly aim to make marijuana legal for recreational use.”

Marijuana usage is still ‘illegal’

While the plan is still under consideration, it is important to understand that changing the marijuana classification (rescheduling) is different from making it completely legal (descheduling). Rescheduling wouldn't automatically make it okay to have marijuana everywhere. You could still get in trouble for possessing it in places where it's illegal.

According to the report, it could take several months for the Office of Management and Budget to issue their final ruling on the proposal. The Associated Press stated that "Once OMB approves, the DEA will solicit public comments on the plan to reclassify marijuana from its current Schedule I classification, which currently places it alongside heroin and LSD." This action proposes to maintain marijuana in Schedule III, along with ketamine and some anabolic steroids following the proper recommendation from the health organisations.

What does rescheduling mean?

Simply put, the reclassification would allow researchers to conduct a large-scale study of the substance to determine specific medical benefits and potentially open the door for pharmaceutical companies in terms of sale in the states where they are legal. In October 2022, President Joe Biden ordered the Department of Health and human services to review marijuana's classification. At the time the president said, “No one should be jailed for using or possessing marijuana.”

‘The Biden-Harris Administration is listening’

Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who founded and co-chairs the Congressional Cannabis Caucus told The Hill, that this step would help advance the U.S. towards ending the “failed war on drugs.”

“Marijuana was scheduled more than 50 years ago based on stigma, not science. The American people have made clear in state after state that cannabis legalization is inevitable,” Blumenauer said. “The Biden-Harris Administration is listening.”