Marijuana reclassified as lower risk drug!
Washington DC, Apr 23 (EFE).-
The United States government reclassified medical marijuana as a lower risk drug on Thursday in order to promote its research for therapeutic purposes. However, recreational use of cannabis will continue to remain illegal at the federal level.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on social media platform X that, with this step, the Justice Department was fulfilling the promise to “improve American healthcare” made by President Donald Trump.
Last year in December, the president signed an executive order to lower restrictions on medical cannabis.
Schedule I is reserved for drugs with no defined medical use and high addictive potential, such as heroin and ecstasy.
The official said that the government’s move would entail “immediately rescheduling FDA-approved marijuana and state-licensed marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule IIl” and “ordering a new, expedited hearing with set deadlines, to fully reschedule marijuana.”
“These actions will enable more targeted, rigorous research into marijuana’s safety and efficacy, expanding patients’ access to treatments and empowering doctors to make better-informed healthcare decisions,” he added.
Recreational use of cannabis in the US is legal in 24 states and Washington DC, but not at the federal level.
The Trump administration and especially Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have pushed for measures to expand researchers’ access to restricted substances that can be used in alternative treatments for patients with cancer and serious mental health disorders.
In addition to the signing of the executive order last year to reclassify cannabis, Trump also signed a directive on Saturday to boost research into psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin and ibogaine, as new treatment options for people with severe mental illness and depression.
The bill also includes a commitment of about $50 million through existing funding from the Health Department to support states developing psychedelic programs for serious mental illness. EFE
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