Last May, the Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed a rule that would move marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the most restrictive category, to Schedule III, which includes prescription drugs such as Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, and anabolic steroids. The public comment period for that proposed rule expired yesterday. According to an analysis by the Drug Policy Alliance, most of the commenters thought the DOJ proposal was too timid: Nearly 70 percent of the 30,000 or so comments favored "descheduling, decriminalizing, or legalizing marijuana at the federal level."
That breakdown jibes with survey results indicating that 70 percent of Americans support marijuana legalization. And judging from the positions that she took as a California senator and a 2020 presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris is one of those Americans. Although she was a latecomer to the cause, Harris, unlike the man she is poised to replace as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, has repeatedly urged the repeal of federal pot prohibition.
