After the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposed rescheduling marijuana under federal drug law and opened the issue up to public comments earlier this year, tens of thousands of people weighed in. While the overwhelming majority seemed to support loosening marijuana laws, prohibitionist lawmakers won't go down without a fight.
In May, the DEA submitted a rule to the Federal Register, proposing to change marijuana's classification under the Controlled Substances Act from Schedule I—drugs categorized as having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse"—to Schedule III, meaning those with "a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence." With the change, marijuana would no longer be regulated as a dangerous substance akin to heroin or ecstasy and would instead be under the same rubric as testosterone and Tylenol with codeine.
