The Justice Department formally, finally, proposed to stop lying about marijuana today after decades of insisting the drug is comparable to heroin and ecstasy—and more dangerous than cocaine and methamphetamine.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in a proposed rule sent to the Federal Register, moved to change marijuana's status from a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act—considered by the government to be highly abuse-prone drugs with no medical value—to a Schedule III drug. Recreational marijuana possession and use would remain illegal under federal law, and any new cannabis-based medications would still require approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
