The Biden administration introduced Thursday it had initiated the formal rulemaking course of to reschedule marijuana to Schedule III from its Schedule I designation that it has held for greater than 50 years.
The announcement follows the Division of Justice’s announcement final month that it deliberate to proceed with rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III, which the Division of Well being and Human Providers had really helpful final 12 months.
“That is monumental. Right now my administration took a significant step to reclassify marijuana from a schedule one drug to a schedule three drug. It’s an vital transfer towards reversing long-standing inequities,” President Biden mentioned in an announcement shared on social platform X.
“Right now’s announcement builds on the work we’ve already performed to pardon a document variety of federal offenses for easy possession of marijuana. And it provides to the motion we’ve taken to carry limitations to housing, employment, small enterprise loans, and a lot extra for tens of hundreds of People,” he added.
The rulemaking course of consists of opening the rule as much as feedback from the general public, an administrative listening to, and ultimate consideration from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Marijuana and drug coverage consultants had been underwhelmed by the White Home’s goal of rescheduling, saying it doesn’t go far sufficient to handle the problems surrounding marijuana’s criminalization.
A Schedule III designation will imply marijuana will nonetheless carry potential penalties, although these shall be lesser below a brand new categorization. Full decriminalization of marijuana may very well be completed by means of Congress with laws eradicating the drug from the Managed Substances Act.
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