DEA could soon announce a major decision on rescheduling marijuana
The Drug Enforcement Administration could announce in the next couple of months a potentially landmark change to marijuana’s status under federal law.
In a letter the agency sent to federal lawmakers this week, the DEA says it plans to release a decision on rescheduling marijuana “in the first half of 2016.”
Cannabis is currently classified in federal drug laws under Schedule I, the most restrictive level.
Moving marijuana to a less-restrictive schedule would boost research on the drug and the development of marijuana pharmaceuticals that doctors could prescribe, experts said.
But it would be unlikely to make raw marijuana possession or cultivation by individuals any less illegal under federal law. And it likely would do little to end the standoff between the feds and the states that have legalized cannabis.
Medical marijuana plants grow at Rocky Mountain Miracles Friday, April 4, 2014. Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette