Biden’s Reclassification of Marijuana: What Will Change?

For decades, the federal government has classified cannabis as a Schedule I substance because it believes it has a “high potential for abuse” in the United States and “does not currently accept medical uses in treatment.” But now, half a century after the Controlled Substances Act placed marijuana alongside heroin and LSD in terms of its perceived dangers, pot’s days as one of the country’s most incongruous banned substances may be nearing an end.

Last week, The Associated Press reported that the Biden administration was poised to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I narcotic to Schedule III — a move that would overturn years of drug policy precedent and change the administration’s handling of with a substance used in the drug sector would change dramatically. one point or another with about half the country, according to a recent Gallup poll. The process is not straightforward, with any reclassification only taking place after a series of different administrative hurdles, a period of public comment and a final judicial review. Still, the reclassification of cannabis would mark a new era in America’s often conflicted relationship with a substance that has already been legalized in some form in more than half of the states. Crucially, reclassification is not full federal legalization. So what would the government’s more permissive pot stance actually do?

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