7 ms·
US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous
- ezfe 6mo agoOnly cannabis that is prescribed medically or in an FDA-approved product: > Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday changed the classifications of products containing marijuana that are covered by the Food and Drug Administration or that have received a state medical-marijuana licence. They will move from a Schedule I narcotic like heroin to a Schedule III drug - on par with Tylenol with codeine. > He also called a hearing to consider reclassifying all marijuana.
- mlinhares 6mo agoStill boggles my mind the previous administration had the power to do that and did nothing.
- chneu 6mo agoBiden is/was extremely pro-cop. Cops love weed legislation because it's an easy way to stop citizens. The prison system also loves weed legislation. So many folks are/were behind bars for weed.
- dmix 6mo agoThere has still been a major decline in federal prosecutions for marijuana in the US, something like -50% since 2020. The vast majority of weed prosecutions happen at the state level. Biden also mass pardoned minor weed possession charges https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/biden-marijuana-simple-possession-pardons-1.6608858 https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/biden-marijuana-simple-possess...
- cucumber3732842 6mo agoState vs federal unfortunatly doesn't change the math behind the "if we do W then union X will not support us and then voting block Y will vote against us at a predicted rate of Z%" math upon which most of these political decisions are calculated.
- dmix 6mo agoThat is true. Plus DEA doesn't want to lose any power and they'll have the presidents ear.
- ch4s3 6mo ago[flagged]
- pelotron 6mo agoCould have had so many easy W's and just didn't.
- GuB-42 6mo agoPolitically, it has to be a calculated move. Some people oppose it, others support it. I think most people here are pro-cannabis and liberal, and I think most will see legalization as a "win", but politically, is it really? Will your vote change depending on the result? If you don't your voice don't matter as much. Those who matter are at the fringe: pro-cannabis leaning conservative, anti-cannabis leaning liberals, etc... Legalizing cannabis may win the first group, but lose the second group. Timing is important too. Did a big cannabis-related news broke out lately, can it be used to divert attention from other matters, like an unpopular tax. To me, cannabis seems to be very strategic in partisan politics. Like gender identity, sex work, etc... These are subjects where people has strong opinions and unlike other subjects like economics that are highly dependant on external factors and governments have little power in practice, these can go either way without causing too much disruption.
- armchairhacker 6mo agoI can’t imagine a scenario where the Democrats legalize cannabis and it hurts their elections. You think there are more anti-cannabis liberals than pro-cannabis conservatives? I think that actually, if Democrats just did what seems clearly good for most of the country, they’d have much better electoral outcomes than their current Kafka-esque strategy.
- Gud 6mo agoNo, but it may push people on the fence away. The “liberals” will never vote republican anyway.
- soupfordummies 6mo agofor real, I was kind of thinking they would pull an October Surprise out of the hat like "Surprise, weed is federally legal!"
- nekusar 6mo agoJoe Biden to rich donors: “Nothing would fundamentally change” if he’s elected https://www.salon.com/2019/06/19/joe-biden-to-rich-donors-nothing-would-fundamentally-change-if-hes-elected/ https://www.salon.com/2019/06/19/joe-biden-to-rich-donors-no... I had no confidence in any mealy-mouth things Biden said. And for that matter, after watching Obama make campaign promises and then completely backing out, I had no confidence for him either. (But elections arent always about voting for. Sometimes its voting against.) Trump's worse, by a LOT. However to his credit, he did completely unban delta6, delta8, delta10, HHC, THC0, and a whole lot other THC based drugs federally. He did do a hell of a lot more than any other democrat or republican, just with a single action.
- panja 6mo agoI don't think this is a completely fair characterization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_policy_of_the_Biden_administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_policy_of_the_Biden_a...
- DoneWithAllThat 6mo agoYour link does nothing to address OP’s claim. Reclassifying marijuana requires only the stroke of the president’s pen. Biden chose not to do that.
- lenerdenator 6mo agoApparently not, or Trump would have done it earlier, too. There were investigations into just what reclassification would mean for other regulations, laws and treaties. These were begun during the Biden administration and are now being finished. If you just say "weed's schedule III now", without any other modifications to policy, you'll have confusion over just what that means to a bunch of different federal, state, and local agencies. Also, you don't want a President just doing things with the stroke of a pen. Actually, that's our biggest problem right now, letting an autocrat piss all over separation of powers as a treat.
- malfist 6mo agoBiden didn't want to reclassify it because there's really no point in reclassifying. It's still illegal to possess for recreational use and requires a controlled substance prescription from a doctor. It would take a law to remove it from the control substances scheduling, no president can do that. Which is also why Trump didn't do it. (It's now schedule 3 instead of schedule 1)
- mlinhares 6mo agoPoor Biden, couldn't do anything, but Trump fired thousands of government employees, killed USAID, is about to close the department of education. People really have to stop saying this, he could have done it if he wanted, he and his team choose not to.
- lenerdenator 6mo agoThat's not true. Biden started this process, and it has continued into the Trump administration.
- superxpro12 6mo agoThey did. Biden did the "right" thing by starting a 4 years long re-certifying process. That's how "locked down" marijuana was... It was in the same class as heroin. You cant just "sign a piece of paper". (And its worth remembering hemp/marijuana has been locked down for literal centuries for silly reason. First because it was affecting the rope industry, and then later as a tool to suppress minorities and hippies and the counter-culture anti-vietnam movement in the 60's. Cant have black panthers running around with guns, But how can we criminalize them? Well... you make something they all do illegal.... like smoking weed. There's a reason the incarceration for weed-related offenses is VASTLY BLACK. I mean... you can just EO this.... but there's rules you're SUPPOSED to follow. Biden did that. This is simply Trump reaping the rewards of that effort without (of course) giving any acknowledgement to Biden. Oh and BTW, why didn't Trump do this in his FIRST administration in 2016-2020? Oh, and remind me which party consistently voted AGAINST rescheduling over the past 30 years? The private prison industry is affected by this HARD. When you deregulate, all those marijuana criminals (who are mostly black btw) go away. Thats less heads in jail, which is less money to the private prison corporations. My guess is now that this current administration is sending immigrants and americans to immigrant concentration camps, their headcount will be a wash when the marijuana convictions fade away. And guess which party the private prison industry donates to? Ruling by executive order is fundamentally incompatible with democracy.
- tosti 6mo agoEh, relax... One good hit of the kush would do wonders for reducing your stress level.
- ApolloFortyNine 6mo agoI have trouble not believing the 'theory' that it's the carrot that gets some percentage of voters out to vote for you. Actually solving it removes the carrot. And with most presidential elections actually being quite close, and only ~70% of the population voting at best, even getting 3-5% voters, who otherwise don't care at all about politics and wouldn't bother voting for any cadidate, to vote for you simply means you win.
- ranger_danger 6mo agoThere was a bill introduced during Biden called STATES 2.0 that would have descheduled it entirely, but it was never voted on.
- rkozik1989 6mo agoThis is ultimately a good thing, but as a country we also need to talk about the effects of cannabis use on neurodivergent folks. Its not as harmful as other drugs but also isn't really a good coping mechanism. Especially if you're neurodivergent and deal with depression. What I've seen being in/out of partial hospitalization programs is that people just don't realize that heavy cannabis is actually causing/prolonging some of the problems they use cannabis to escape from. Everyone needs to make their own health decisions for themselves but we really do need a mature conversation about cannabis.
- nkohari 6mo agoThis is absolutely true, but it's also difficult to square the legal restrictions around cannabis while alcohol is freely available (and significantly more dangerous and habit-forming), and nicotine use is on the rise again thanks to vapes and Zyn. (To be clear, they're all drugs, and they should all be used responsibly if at all.)
- dmix 6mo agoAnything that impacts sleep like habitual alcohol or weed use. Nothing more important than sleep quality for health.
- chucksta 6mo agoCoffee?
- wookmaster 6mo agoCaffeine and alcohol affect mine way worse than cannabis
- kstrauser 6mo agoThat’s the crux of it for me. I don’t use weed but I enjoy a small amount of alcoholic beverages, like a really good beer once a month or so. I can’t go along with any law that allows me to enjoy my intoxicant of choice but throws someone else in jail for enjoying their less dangerous one.
- oompydoompy74 6mo agoRegulating human consumption of anything that grows from the ground is absolutely ridiculous. It’s an affront to the natural order. At the minimum, nobody should have the ability to tell me I can’t buy seeds and grow a plant for my own personal consumption.
- tsimionescu 6mo ago[flagged]
- oompydoompy74 6mo agoYeah you can buy those legally online and plant them in your yard right now. This take is based on all of human history until the last 2 - 300 years.
- Woshiwuja 6mo agoYes it should be OK, poisoning people is still illegal
- cucumber3732842 6mo ago>So it should be OK to sell hemlock or nightshade and other all-natural plant-based poisons? Rofl. Yeah sure but who's buying? Approximately nobody. So there's no harm and not even a problem for regulation to solve. >Maybe even give them to others? Already illegal depending upon the details of "give". >Why is it any more or less acceptable to regulate the use of chemistry equipment than of agricultural products? Because speculative "someone might" or "at scale we've noted that <some numbers near the noise floor>" claims are not sufficient ground for restricting the freedom of individuals. Those who argue otherwise have bad morals. When you start talking about widespread industry and known, defined and obviously present harms (see for example all those pictures of odd colored rivers in the 50s-70s, use of lead paint in residential settings, etc) it's a different story but the bar for regulating what one may possess and use/consume in the privacy of their own home ought to be many orders of magnitude higher.
- 6mo ago
- bakies 6mo agoNow the next Democrat presidential candidate can't run on "legalize it." Might have to develop real strategy.
- stonogo 6mo agoWhich prospective candidates were you expecting to run on "legalize it"?
- recursivegirth 6mo agoIf the Democrats run on legalization they have already lost. Quite no one literally gives a shit about this besides the marginalized people it's going to affect negatively the most. Can we move on to more important and substantive topics? Something something files.
- hx8 6mo agoI think "legalize it" in the platform is more likely to help a democratic presidential candidate than hurt one. Specifically, I think it might attract more liberal voters to the polls in swing states with illegal weed such as GA, NC, and WI. I agree that I would expect a serious candidate to come with much bolder ideas, but it can fit into a platform in the same way "no tax on tips" fit into the 2024 election. One of many good ideas that will motivate a certain niche of voters.
- guzfip 6mo ago> Can we move on to more important and substantive topics? Something something files. Oh no too many of the powerful establishment democrats are friendly with the esteemed bankers, politicians and business leaders in those files.
- nerevarthelame 6mo agoIt was Biden who initially ordered the reclassification of marijuana to schedule III in 2024: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/29/2024-19370/schedules-of-controlled-substances-rescheduling-of-marijuana https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/29/2024-19... Trump is basically just pushing that order across the finish line.
- lenerdenator 6mo ago"Trump administration finishes Biden administration effort to reclassify cannabis as less dangerous" would be a more accurate headline.
- setgree 6mo agoEvery so often the Trump administration seems like they might actually care about getting my vote. A recent executive order making it easier to do research on psychedelic therapy is another example [0]. A policy shift to reform IRB review for social and behavioral science [1] would be really targeted at me. I know politics is hard to talk about, but I generally think that we underappreciate the importance of being agentic in politics. Obviously I prefer that our government follow the law and uphold the constitution. But the many ways in which the current administration got things done by being quick, by "flooding the zone" [2], and by using tactics that apparently no one noticed before [3-4] are worthy of study and emulation. I know the obvious response to this is to note that a lot of what they're doing is illegal, and again, I think that's bad. But they really make the current Democratic leadership seem out of touch and old [5] by comparison. Combined with policy positions that are far from the median voter's [6], it doesn't make for a winning look/platform. [0] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/accelerating-medical-treatments-for-serious-mental-illness/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/acce... [1] https://www.cspicenter.com/p/its-time-to-review-the-institutional https://www.cspicenter.com/p/its-time-to-review-the-institut... [2] https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/02/trumpian-policy-as-cultural-policy.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/02/tr... [3] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/27/russell-vought-profile-donald-trump https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/27/russell-vought... [4] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/03/16/the-unmaking-of-the-american-university https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/03/16/the-unmaking-o... [5] https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-democrats-confront-true-powerlessness/ https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-democrat... [6] https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-median-voter-is-a-50-something https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-median-voter-is-a-50-someth...
- Throaway199999 6mo agoI agree as a political science grad. In hindsight, the only surprising thing about Trump's rise to power was that WE were surprised. Trump was doing the #1 thing politicians are supposed to do; tell the people what they want to hear. Our establishment is just so out-of-touch with reality and in love with the status quo that they can't change.
- 6mo ago
- periodjet 6mo agoIs it less dangerous though? I was a heavy user for a year and it thoroughly destabilized my life and really negatively impacted my mental health. The funny thing is recalling how much of a cannabis advocate I was at the time, too.
- hx8 6mo agoCannabis did not belong in Schedule 1. Yes Cannabis use comes with risk, but compare it to Fentanyl which is Schedule 2.
- kingnothing 6mo agoCocaine and crack are also Schedule 2.
- jayGlow 6mo agoI believe cocaine is schedule 2 due to it having some limited medical uses.
- TheCoelacanth 6mo agoMarijuana is one of the most effective things we have for some types of chronic pain and nausea.
- Throaway199999 6mo agosounds like crack should be schedule 1
- giantg2 6mo agoI see a lot of people pushing weed as being safer than alcohol. There's a huge difference in the available data for both of these, not to mention the risk gradient of each based on dose and frequency. There are more known risks with alcohol, but it's not an apples to apples comparison based on the data. The final verdict is that neither is a "safe" choice based on the data, even if the risks differ somewhat between them.
- nemomarx 6mo agoAlcohol is one of the more dangerous drugs on most scales, so it's kind of a low bar? The drug to beat would be safer than nicotine probably.
- giantg2 6mo ago"Alcohol is one of the more dangerous drugs on most scales" Can you provide those scales?
- guzfip 6mo agohttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HarmCausedByDrugsTable.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HarmCausedByDrugsTab...
- giantg2 6mo ago"Note that alcohol (despite being legal and used more often than the other drugs) is by far the most harmful; not only is it the most damaging to societies, it is also the fourth most dangerous for the user. Most of the drugs were rated significantly less harmful than alcohol, with most of the harm befalling the user." Thanks! Yes, a legal drug that is more widespread and more studied has more aggregate impact. Another sentence in that link specifically calls out legal and cultural impacts on harms. This is also in the UK, so it's worth noting there could be differences with the US. This does not negate my statement and in some areas bolsters it (data discrepancy claims).
- 6mo ago
- atonse 6mo agoHonestly, I have zero issues with legalizing marijuana (I'm not an expert on the effects), but I just don't like how the smell really travels and overwhelms local areas nowadays. Fair or not, I think it smells stronger than cigarette smoke (which smells more like a neutral smoke maybe?) so has a higher annoyance factor. So over time, I've gotten more in the camp of "completely ok with the gummies being legal, not so sure about the smoking part anymore" - anyone else feel that way?
- piperswe 6mo agoI fully agree. I personally think it should be at least socially unacceptable, or potentially ticketable, to smoke/vape anything in such a way that it someone that doesn't want to smell it can smell it. If someone wants to smoke on their land in the middle of nowhere I don't care, but if you live in society you can get your marijuana/nicotine fix without bothering everyone in your vicinity.
- mannyv 6mo agoYeah, the smell is sticky. Manhattan and Las Vegas seem to be full of stoners, if my nose is to be believed. It makes me wonder how undetectable we really were when we smoked up when we were kids. I mean dang, I can smell the weed half a block from Chipotle after 9pm.
- seanmcdirmid 6mo agoI have some neighbors who smoke weed...and you know Seattle rains most of the year but when late spring/summer comes we have to sometimes close our bedroom window at night and turn on the AC because the neighbors decided to just sit out in their backyard and smoke weed until 2 AM. Thankfully it doesn't happen super often.
- perrygeo 6mo agoI am thankful to live in a town with a full ban on public smoking; weed and tobacco are legal to buy, just not to smoke or vape in the city center. It's a clear and rational line - do unto yourself if you must, but keep the air clean and don't force others to share your nasty habit.
- josefritzishere 6mo agoWouldn't it be more meaningful if the DEA officially reclassified it? They set up the drug schedules.
- Simulacra 6mo agoI wish he had gone further! I am also deeply frustrated with past President's who alluded to legalization but never delivered anything, except empty promises at election time. Marijuana is one of those political dog whistles they only talk about at elections, which funny enough we're nearing, but at least finally someone did something instead of just saying they would...
- thelastgallon 6mo agoAnd this is how you win the mid-term!
- Simulacra 6mo agoThere's a lot of discussion about these kind of issues being used as carrots to get people to the polls, but I'm not sure this is going to be one of them. Enough states of legalized at that..it may have lost its high. Certainly some will vote favorably because of this but .. I don't think it will be the same had someone had done this in 2015.......
- mannyv 6mo agoStoners probably don't vote (it's too much work), but dispensary owners do. And now they can start the process for allowing dispensaries into the banking system. How that will work will be unclear, because technically marijuana is still a controlled substance. That said, pharmacies can bank, so at some level dispensaries can bank. Maybe only medical dispensaries can bank, and the recreational ones will piggyback off of them?
- ajay-b 6mo agoAs a stoner, I vote :) My local growers club has a newsletter and we discuss pro-cannabis politicians, and the importance of voting for them. What inspires me - to a degree - is how diverse our group is politically/socially, but this is one issue we agree on.
- arctics 6mo agodon't do drugs, life is beautiful.
- ajay-b 6mo agoThis has been a long time coming. Now let's tax it, and use that money to pay for drug and mental health treatment, much in the same way that the lottery is used in places to pay for education.
- boogieknite 6mo agoexpected Oregon to leap all other states in education with the marijuana taxes over a decade ago and just no results
- classified 6mo agoHere's my $0.02 to all those who express confusion here: 76th Rule of Acquisition: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.