The Justice Department will move to ease restrictions on marijuana in a landmark shift on drug policy in the United States.
DOJ officials are expected to request rescheduling marijuana as a Schedule III controlled substance, alongside ketamine and Tylenol with codeine.
“The DOJ continues to work on this rule. We have no further comment at this time,” a Biden administration official told CNN.
The DOJ has declined requests for comment.
CNN continues:
Attorney General Merrick Garland plans to submit a draft rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget as soon as Tuesday, according to a source familiar. The standard rulemaking process is lengthy, is subject to a public comment period, and could take months to complete.
For more than 50 years, marijuana has been categorized as a Schedule I substance — drugs like heroin, bath salts and ecstasy that are considered to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse — and subject to the strictest of restrictions.
The expected recommendation comes after the US Health and Human Services department, following a thorough US Food and Drug Administration review at the direction of President Joe Biden, who in 2022 sent a letter to the Justice Department supporting the reclassification to Schedule III.
Last fall, members of the FDA's Controlled Substance Staff wrote in the documents that the agency recommended rescheduling marijuana because it meets three criteria: a lower potential for abuse than other substances on Schedules I and II; a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the US; and a risk of low or moderate physical dependence in people who abuse it. The National Institute on Drug Abuse concurred with the recommendation.
Twenty-four states, two territories and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational cannabis use, leading to the growth of a multibillion-dollar industry in less than a decade.
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