By DAVID A. LIEB, Related Press
President Donald Trump is taking a brand new take a look at reclassifying marijuana as a much less harmful drug in a transfer that might nudge the federal authorities nearer to an strategy already embraced in lots of states.
Trump stated Monday that he hopes to resolve within the coming weeks about whether or not to assist modifications to the best way marijuana is regulated. The renewed concentrate on marijuana comes greater than a yr after former President Joe Biden’s administration formally proposed reclassifying marijuana. No choice was made earlier than Biden left workplace.
In the meantime, many states have already gone additional than the federal authorities by legalizing the leisure use of marijuana for adults or permitting it for medical functions.
What’s the federal coverage on marijuana?
Possessing marijuana stays a federal crime punishable by fines and jail time. Promoting or cultivating marijuana is a extra severe offense, punishable by jail sentences of 5 years to life, relying on the amount of the drug.
The Justice Division final yr proposed to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD, to a much less harmful Schedule III substance, which incorporates things like ketamine and a few anabolic steroids. However that swap concerned a prolonged bureaucratic course of.
Practically 43,000 public feedback have been submitted to the federal authorities in regards to the proposed change. The Drug Enforcement Administration was nonetheless within the overview course of when Trump succeeded Biden in January, triggering a re-examination of insurance policies throughout the federal authorities.
What would reclassifying marijuana imply?
Reclassifying marijuana wouldn’t make it authorized for leisure use by adults nationwide. Relatively, it will change the best way it’s regulated and taxed.
Federal revenue tax deductions for enterprise bills aren’t obtainable to enterprises concerned in “trafficking” any Schedule I or II drug. Altering marijuana to a Schedule III drug might imply vital tax financial savings for companies licensed to promote marijuana in states the place it’s authorized.
It additionally might make it simpler to analysis marijuana, because it’s very tough to conduct licensed medical research on Schedule I substances.
Because of the potential for federal penalties, many banks and monetary establishments don’t present debit or credit score providers, loans or different frequent banking merchandise to marijuana companies licensed underneath state legal guidelines. That’s unlikely to vary merely by rescheduling marijuana underneath the federal Managed Substances Act, in line with a Congressional Analysis Service report.
What’s there for Trump to think about?
Trump is weighing the professionals and cons of a marijuana coverage change, noting it’s a “very difficult topic.”
“I’ve heard nice issues having to do with medical” use of marijuana and “dangerous issues having to do with nearly all the pieces else,” Trump stated Monday.
Marijuana advocacy teams have lengthy pushed for the federal authorities to melt its stance. As a candidate, Trump appeared open to relaxed regulation, posting on his social media platform final yr that he would “concentrate on analysis to unlock the medical makes use of of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug.”
However reclassification faces resistance from some conservatives and legislation enforcement teams. The Nationwide Sheriffs’ Affiliation was amongst these submitting written opposition, highlighting prior determinations that marijuana has a “excessive abuse potential” and pointing to instances of “excessive intoxication” and deadly car crashes.
What’s taking place within the states?
The medical use of marijuana is already allowed in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Over the previous dozen years, the variety of jurisdictions legalizing leisure marijuana for adults rose quickly to 24 states and the District of Columbia.
However the motion suffered some latest setbacks.
Poll measures to legalize leisure marijuana failed final fall in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota. Florida’s measure obtained a majority vote, which might have been adequate in most states, however fell wanting the 60% threshold wanted to approve amendments to the state structure.
Idaho lawmakers this yr referred a proposed constitutional modification to the poll that will forbid citizen initiatives to legalize marijuana and as a substitute go away such choices solely to the Legislature.
Initiatives proceed elsewhere to attempt to place leisure marijuana on the poll, together with in Oklahoma, the place voters defeated a measure in 2023.
What does the info say about marijuana use?
About 6 in 10 voters throughout the nation stated they favor legalizing leisure use nationwide, in line with AP VoteCast, a survey of greater than 120,000 U.S. voters performed throughout final yr’s election.
Polling from Gallup reveals assist for marijuana legalization has grown considerably, from simply 36% assist in 2005 to 68% final yr.
Marijuana use has additionally elevated. Greater than 64 million People age 12 and older — or 22.3% of individuals — used marijuana throughout the previous yr, in line with a 2024 nationwide survey launched just lately by the federal Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration. That was up from 19% of individuals in 2021.
The expansion in marijuana use was pushed by adults aged 26 and older, in line with the survey. Nevertheless, folks ages 18-25 remained the most certainly to partake in marijuana, with 35% reporting use throughout the previous yr.
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