US aims to reclassify marijuana as less dangerous drug

Pot currently holds same designation as heroin, LSD; move would reshape multibillion-dollar industry.

A man smokes marijuana during a 420 celebration at Washington Square Park in New York City on April 20, 2024. April 20 is an unofficial international counterculture celebration of cannabis. Picture: AFP

The Biden administration is seeking to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic move that could make it much easier to buy and sell pot and make the multibillion-dollar industry more profitable.

US Attorney-General Merrick Garland on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) submitted a proposal for a White House review that would move marijuana out of the government’s most restrictive drug classification. Marijuana has been designated as a Schedule I drug since 1970, alongside LSD and heroin.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the proposed rule, which hasn’t been made public, would downgrade marijuana to Schedule III, making it obtainable with a prescription.

The proposed change comes after President Joe Biden in 2022 pardoned thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law and called upon regulators to review whether the drug should be reclassified, saying “it doesn’t make sense” that the government controls pot more tightly than ­cocaine or fentanyl.

Biden allies hope the move will shore up the President’s standing with younger voters, who have been particularly supportive of liberalising marijuana policies.

Mr Biden needs their commanding support in November, as some polls show him trailing his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, and underperforming among adults under 30.

More than half of states have legalised marijuana for some purpose over the past decade, and many Democrats and some Republicans have taken a more tolerant view of its use.

Marijuana is believed to be the most commonly used federally illegal drug in the US. The number of Americans who smoked it has more than doubled since 2013, according to a Gallup survey, with 17 per cent of adults reporting they did so 2023. The federal government still puts it in a category reserved for drugs that have a high potential for abuse with no offsetting accepted medical use.

The new government policy could affect everything from marijuana cigarettes to pot-infused beverages and gummies. Even if marijuana is no longer a Schedule I drug, pot would remain illegal under federal law without other changes by congress.

The Justice Department could still prosecute marijuana offenders, though it has taken a largely hands-off approach to the industry in states where it has been legalised. Officials in recent years have also said they don’t view prosecuting federal marijuana crimes as the best use of limited resources.

Tilray Brands, the largest US cannabis-related firm by market value, rose 40 per cent on the news and Canada’s Canopy Growth rose 79 per cent.

The AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis exchange-traded fund rose 25 per cent and the AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF rose 20 per cent

The idea has been a source of contention between officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, which last year, at the direction of the White House, recommended making marijuana a Schedule III drug, alongside testosterone and ketamine and obtainable with a prescription.

Some DEA officials still believe pot’s medicinal benefits remain unproven and it is prone to abuse. Namely, they are concerned about modern cannabis strains that can be many times as potent as those common years ago, and believe more research is needed. The agency refused to reclassify marijuana in 2016.

Federal scientists at HHS said in their August recommendation that marijuana wasn’t as vulnerable to abuse as other controlled substances, had some therapeutic benefits backed by science, and produced “less serious outcomes” than other drugs, even though it could cause dependence.

“While this thankfully won’t fully legalise marijuana, it is an alarming departure from both logic and science, tainted by ­election-year politics, ” said Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of anti-pot group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

Certain Democrats, who had been urging the Justice Department and DEA to move faster to downgrade pot, hailed the potential move as the first step towards lessening what they see as harm caused by draconian pot laws.

“The American people have made clear in state after state that cannabis legalisation is inevitable,” said Democrat represen­tative Earl Blumenauer, co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.

Any rule loosening federal restrictions on marijuana could take months to complete and could be further stalled by lawsuits.

The Wall Street Journal