This Government Agency Calls for Rescheduling Marijuana: Is It a Sign Marijuana Legalization Is Coming?
Pot stocks are jumping again. Hopes are up that a major marijuana-related reform could be coming in the United States after a government agency suggested that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) should reschedule cannabis. But cannabis investors have been here before, and little has been done in recent years with respect to any serious reform. Is this time different, and is U.S. marijuana legalization inevitable?
U.S. regulations currently classify cannabis as a Schedule I substance, putting it in the same category as heroin, ecstasy, and LSD. Being in that schedule makes it next to impossible for people to even research cannabis. And according to the DEA's classification, cannabis is in a category of substances that have "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."
Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended to the DEA that cannabis should be rescheduled after conducting an 11-month review. President Biden initially made the request for the agency to make a scheduling recommendation. The HHS' recommendation would list cannabis as a Schedule III substance, which would put it alongside anabolic steroids and testosterone, where there is "a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence." It's still ultimately up to the DEA, however, to make its decision on whether to move forward with the recommendation.
Source Fool.com
