Marijuana has a lower potential for abuse than other drugs that are subjected to the same restrictions, with scientific support for its use as a medical treatment, researchers from the US Food and Drug Administration say in documents supporting its reclassification as a Schedule III substance.

Marijuana is currently classified as Schedule I, reserved for the most dangerous controlled substances, including heroin and LSD. In 2022, President Joe Biden asked US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and the attorney general to begin the administrative process of reviewing how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Rachel Levine wrote a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration in August in which she supported the reclassification to Schedule III, a list that includes “drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence” such as ketamine, testosterone and Tylenol with codeine.

Rescheduling marijuana could open up more avenues for research, allow cannabis businesses to bank more freely and openly, and have firms no longer subject to a 40-year-old tax code that disallows credits and deductions from income generated by sales of Schedule I and II substances.

    • Snot Flickerman
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      661 year ago

      America, where opening your mind is considered just as dangerous as ruining your life and health.

      • RuBisCO
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        901 year ago

        Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.

        Terence McKenna

      • @[email protected]
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        451 year ago

        I took acid once. I giggled a lot and led my friends on an “adventure” into my backyard where we played hacky sack until it got dark enough to watch the stars. It was awful! You don’t want no part of this shit, Dewey!

          • @[email protected]
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            131 year ago

            Psychedelics are awesome. If you don’t have much experience with them, keep it to a moderate dose. I eat mushrooms quite a bit and a single dose at +5g would rock my world still.

            In a healthy environment with a healthy mindset, you can discover a ton about yourself and how your mind works. Or, you can just have fun and socialize.

            I use mushrooms medicinally and recreationally. If I want to chill and meditate I can. If I want to be social and have fun, I can. Regardless of my mood, they have been an awesome tool for managing my anxiety, social anxiety and depression. Best of all, it has been a key component in my recovery from alcoholism.

            They are not for everyone, unfortunately. If you are not prepared for an accidental high dosage, it can be challenging. (There is so much variability in mushrooms, it can happen. Not so much with with substances like LSD.)

            • @chooglers
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              211 months ago

              Yea I’ve taken lsd, mushrooms and dmt many, many times.

        • Jay
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          91 year ago

          I used to love acid when I was younger. I bought 30 hits of blotter just for my 18th birthday for me and my friends. Never hallucinated like some people claim but had tons of energy and it made everything feel so… real? and vibrant. Shrooms were cool but just not nearly on the same level.

          You definitely want to plan ahead and make sure you’re surrounded by good company and plenty to do beforehand though.

          • @Nastybutler
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            61 year ago

            Of all the drugs I’ve done, which isn’t too many, acid is my favorite. Haven’t done it since I was in college over 20 years ago. If I knew how to get my hands on some, I’d consider doing it again occasionally. Best body high I’ve ever had.

            • @ChickenLadyLovesLife
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              31 year ago

              I loved acid but I would never do it again at my age (50s). Even back in my youth I thought the experience lasted way too long - I was always ready to come back down and sleep and contemplate my experiences long before the drug started to wear off.

            • @AngryCommieKender
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              11 year ago

              Apparently the dark/deep web is remarkably reliable. At least it used to be, not sure if that’s still the case. I kinda want to get some Bitcoin or whatever they’re using to get a drone delivery of acid, but that would be way too much acid.

            • @[email protected]
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              11 year ago

              Research “tails” and “dread.” You’ll find your way from there, avoid customs and especially the netherlands.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        Tbf, this is hardly unique to the US, and a handful of states are actually decriminalizing some psychedelics now. Not sure where else in the world is doing that.

  • @[email protected]
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    741 year ago

    It’s inherently problematic that the DEA is in charge of scheduling

    Rescheduling marijuana would likely lead to a lower budget for the DEA… No way is the DEA going to voluntarily lower the scheduling of such a widely used drug

      • @AngryCommieKender
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        41 year ago

        Smoking hemp leads to disappointment and headaches.

        Source: got fooled while driving through Nebraska.

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          There is an interesting loophole active right now in the US, a person can buy ‘high THCA hemp flower’, which is identical in composition to bud sold at a recreational dispensary, and it is not regulated and can be shipped across state lines legally through even the USPS. There might be some restrictions in certain states, but you can see an example of this bud here: https://www.luckyelk.com/buy/thca/overview

          So long as the THC content is below 0.3% it is not considered cannabis in the same way federally apparently. But most smokable weed has very low THC and high THCA, which is converted to THC when burned, so this bud that falls in this category is just as good as stuff you can get from a dispensary often.

    • @[email protected]
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      -131 year ago

      They don’t get money based on how many drugs are illegal. Not to mention, they like to go after big dealers which some will continue to import illegally or grow it in illegal ways. The DEA will still come after them.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 months ago

        They get money based on the resources needed to tackle illegal drug manufacturing/sales/usage

        The more widely used an illegal drug is, the more resources they need to fight it

      • @Dkarma
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        11 year ago

        Oh sweet summer child… The dea absolutely loses money if MJ is legalized.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    Reminder that the most dangerous drug in terms of deaths caused per capita is alcohol. Refined sugar and HFCS probably has alcohol’s numbers beat if you consider that a drug though.

    • @kromem
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      171 year ago

      When I wasn’t in a position to decide my own client list, I used to hate working for some of the large companies with high sugar products. Felt like consulting for Philip Morris or something. I remember one corporate HQ had giant posters in their cafeteria talking about how scientists didn’t find a causative relationship between sugar and childhood health complications, and it felt just like the classic “nine out of ten doctors recommended XYZ brand cigarettes.”

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      But let’s be fair, if every bar and liquor store switched to selling meth and kids dad’s brought them their first meth on their twenty first birthday, weddings had a traditional opening the meth moment, etc then things would be a lot worse.

  • @MaxPow3r11
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    481 year ago

    It never should have been “classified” or “scheduled”.

    Or alcohol should be schedule 1.

    Cannabis being a “schedule 1” drug (one of the safest drugs we can consume) while alcohol (an extremely dangerous [to society and individuals] drug that is also addictive) is UNSCHEDULED and PROMOTED is beyond absurd.

    Make anything make sense.

    • Ricky Rigatoni
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      111 year ago

      Doctor, my wife left me for my brother. May I please have a medicinal alcohol license?

      • @[email protected]
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        111 year ago

        It goes deeper than that. They could be making money from weed instead of alcohol.

        The answer is existing wealth and power structures.

    • @Cort
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      61 year ago

      Alcohol would at worst be schedule 2 since it has medical use. It’s the cure to methanol poisoning and ethylene glycol poisoning.

      • @[email protected]
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        211 months ago

        Damn dude, your comment made me look up the actual classes. For anyone else:

        Schedule 1: high chance of addiction and no professional use; weex, lsd, ecstacy, peyote

        Schedule 2: high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence. Considered dangerous; cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, oxycodone, fentanyl, Dexedrine, Adderall

        Schedule 3: moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence; ketamine, anabolic steroids, testosterone

        Schedule 4: low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence; Xanax, Soma, Darvon, Darvocet, Valium, Ativan, Talwin, Ambien, Tramadol

        Schedule 5: generally used for antidiarrheal, antitussive, and analgesic purposes; Lomotil, Motofen, Lyrica, Parepectolin

  • @[email protected]
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    401 year ago

    Marijuana is currently classified as Schedule I, reserved for the most dangerous controlled substances, including heroin and LSD.

    Fucking christ lmao.

    • @scottywh
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      201 year ago

      LSD doesn’t belong on Schedule I either.

    • LeadersAtWork
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      101 year ago

      The reason for this has often been thought due to prison and possibly even tobacco lobbyists. Dunno about the second one, though the first certainly has the numbers to back it up, and the history. The history itself is quite the rabbit hole that begins in the U.S. back around the late 1930s. Though the drug itself has been around for hundreds of years, according to study.

      Sadly, due to the times we live in, just ask yourself what the modern Republican party would want to claim. Who uses Marijuana and for what reasons and you’ll probably land on why this became a fiasco in the first place.

      • archomrade [he/him]
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        261 year ago

        The schedule 1 classification of cannabis and LSD is pretty famously linked to Nixon pushing for its criminalization, due to it being primarily used by anti-war “hippies”

      • @[email protected]
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        141 year ago

        I was just highlighting how absurd it is to consider heroin and lsd in the same category at all.

        • @Tyfud
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          111 year ago

          Agreed. Not even remotely comparable to each other from an addiction/damage potential standpoint. LSD is entirely non-addictive habit forming, while heroin is the polar opposite. In terms of health damage, you can’t die from doing too much LSD, but you can from heroin (easily).

          All in all, it’s like comparing apples to heroin. Or cake to heroin. Or pizza to heroin. Or LSD to heroin.

      • @[email protected]
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        81 year ago

        Though the drug itself has been around for hundreds of years

        Longer than that. There is credible evidence that humans have been using cannabis for at least about as long as we’ve been brewing alcohol. Ancient religious relics recovered from archeological digs have been tested and shown cannabis residue.

  • @7u5k3n
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    381 year ago

    But my profits!!!

    • alcohol and prison companies
  • @someguy3
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    281 year ago

    Was this the review Biden asked for awhile back?

  • Bonehead
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    281 year ago

    This is nothing new. Nixon commissioned a report that said the exact same thing 50 years ago.

  • @crystalmerchant
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    261 year ago

    So all the guys locked up with mandatory minimum sentences will be released now, right? Right?

  • @_number8_
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    241 year ago

    i have a feeling biden will finally get this done right before the election. hopefully this will mobilize the young enough to combat the hoards of jug hooters

        • @[email protected]
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          31 year ago

          The blame will depend on whether Republicans have control of a house of Congress. If they refuse to put it through the Republican-controlled Senate then it tracks that a Democratic presidential candidate would promise it but be unable to deliver due to the opposing party.

          Blame him if he gets complete control and doesn’t do it, blame the other party if they stop him from doing it.

          • @Ensign_Crab
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            01 year ago

            I’m not going to give him credit for something he hasn’t accomplished.

        • the post of tom joad
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          1 year ago

          But when we complain that we still can’t buy pot in our state we’ll get 4 replies 10 paragraphs long with citations all smugly telling us that we don’t understand, he actually got “the most work done towards legalizing pot then any president since FDR”

    • @[email protected]
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      51 year ago

      What more does Biden need to do? They already directed HHS to consider reclassifying it from schedule I to III and HHS made their recommendation to the DEA who classifies the drugs. I thought it was up to the DEA now?

      • @Ensign_Crab
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        -41 year ago

        He said we’d look into it, so it’s accomplished!

        • @nelly_man
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          The executive branch is a bureaucracy that has to follow procedures. The president can direct the agency to start these processes, and that’s what he done. The HHS has done the necessary work to show that cannabis is deserving of a lower schedule according to the Controlled Substances Act. It is now up to the DEA to review that data and reschedule it accordingly. This is the process stipulated by the law, and the executive branch must adhere to it. If they don’t, it will be undone in the courts.

          The alternative route would be for Congress to pass a new law to specifically legalize cannabis, but they do not have the numbers, so the Biden administration has to follow the process outlined in the existing laws. He’s done what he is legally able to do, and it’s more than any of his predecessors have. It may be slow, but it’s pretty much a fast as the law allows.

          • @Ensign_Crab
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            -41 year ago

            The executive branch is a bureaucracy that has to follow procedures. The president can direct the agency to start these processes, and that’s what he done.

            That’s great. Until it’s actually happened, it’s not an accomplishment. I’m not sure how centrists keep failing to understand this. You don’t get credit for something that hasn’t happened. Cannabis is still illegal federally. If that changes due to Biden’s efforts, I’ll happily give him credit.

            But it hasn’t happened yet. This isn’t the Silmarillion. You don’t get credit for trying.

        • @[email protected]
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          211 months ago

          What more does Biden need to do?

          Are you unable to answer the question or do you not have an answer? Is that why you resorted to snark?

          • @Ensign_Crab
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            -211 months ago

            Not expect praise for something that hasn’t happened?

            Centrists demand credit for non-accomplishments because they prefer to accomplish nothing.

            • @[email protected]
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              211 months ago

              Not expect praise for something that hasn’t happened?

              Where did I demand Biden be praised?

              Centrists demand credit for non-accomplishments because they prefer to accomplish nothing.

              When did I demand Biden get credit?

              Often on social media the same people who decry one side behaving like authoritarian dictators act like it’s acceptable for their side to behave like gasp authoritarian dictators.

              Yes, some people like to give undue credit but you’re just the other side of that coin shitting on any action that is taken.

              Instead of engaging in the discussion you resort to snark, assumptions and insults. It’s clear you have nothing to contribute, engaging with you any further would be a waste of my time.

              Have a day!

              • @Ensign_Crab
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                -211 months ago

                Yes, some people like to give undue credit but you’re just the other side of that coin shitting on any action that is taken.

                I’ve said that I will be happy to give Biden credit for actual accomplishments. This is not an accomplishment. It could be groundwork for one, or it could be making a show of looking into it and then not following through.

                Democrats squandered what remaining benefit of the doubt they had years ago. Until it’s an accomplishment, it’s a bill of goods as far as I’m concerned.

  • @afraid_of_zombies
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    151 year ago

    At this point I trust cannabis more than I trust HFC. No one is trying to sneak cannabis in my food and cannabis doesn’t make me fat.

    • @EtherWhack
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      41 year ago

      I don’t know, man… Those munchies are killer, man… /s

      • @[email protected]
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        21 year ago

        I know you’re joking but maaaaan if they just made my damn munchies with real sugar this wouldn’t be as big of a problem and they’d taste better, goddammit

        • @[email protected]
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          I think research has shown that every day tokers actually have a lower body fat percentage than the average. I actually get a high-protein granola from the store that has hemp seeds in it, they are high in amino acids and protein. It isn’t super obvious it has hemp in it too so in a way they did sneak cannabis into it haha.

  • @HiddenLychee
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    Wait, Ketamine and lean are schedule three* drugs? I thought those were pretty addictive and pretty damaging?

    Edited number

    • squiblet
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      91 year ago

      Schedule I means not legal for any purpose, so no. Ketamine is used medically and “lean” is a fairly mild opiate, and also used medically (it’s a cough syrup, where did you think it came from?). Drugs like that are schedule ii-iv.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 year ago

      Ketamine has medical applications such as being commonly used as an anesthetic in short term procedures and with those who do not respond positively to opioids. Ketamine is classified under low addiction risk as it’s not physically addicting as in its users do not suffer from withdrawal. The problem with ketamine however is that it helps users cope with a plethora of different mental illnesses which in itself is addictive.

  • @randon31415
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    51 year ago

    2022, Biden: We need to shore up the youth support. What do youth vote for? Student loan cancelation and Marijuana reform? Let’s try the former for 2022 and save the later for 2024.

  • @xc2215x
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    21 year ago

    Glad it meets the criteria.