At a press conference Monday morning, President Trump said that his administration is considering changing marijuana’s federal classification as a Schedule 1 controlled substance and that he will announce his decision within a few weeks.
“Some people like it. Some people hate it. Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana, because it does bad for the children; it does bad for people that are older than children. But we’re looking at reclassification, and we’ll make a determination over the next, I would say, over the next few weeks, and that determination hopefully will be the right one.” – President Donald Trump
Let’s ensure he makes the right decision and calls for the descheduling of marijuana.
On the campaign trail, Trump called for ending low-level marijuana arrests and spoke positively about the medical utility of cannabis. However, some of his actions since taking office have caused advocates to question whether he still supports these positions. For instance, he appointed a veteran drug warrior to head the DEA and his administration submitted a budget proposal that would have repealed long-standing protections for state medical cannabis programs against federal interference.
That’s why it is so important for the White House to hear from voters like you today.
While moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III would be important symbolically and politically, and would end the unfair federal taxation of state-licensed cannabis businesses, it will not end federal prohibition. Only removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act altogether can resolve the growing conflict between federal and state laws and put a stop to the federal criminalization of cannabis consumers once and for all.