U.S. health officials recommend moving marijuana to lower-risk drug classification

[SaysWho?]

US regulators might change how they classify marijuana. Here's what that would mean

APNEWS.COM

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When it emerged this week that U.S. health regulators are suggesting that the federal government loosen restrictions on marijuana, the news lit up the world of weed.

 

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Still, the HHS recommendation is “paradigm-shifting, and it’s very exciting,” said Vince Sliwoski, a Portland, Oregon-based cannabis and psychedelics attorney who runs well-known legal blogs on those topics.

 

“I can’t emphasize enough how big of news it is,” he said.

 

It came after President Joe Biden asked both HHS and the attorney general, who oversees the DEA, last year to review how marijuana was classified. Schedule I put it on par, legally, with heroin, LSD, quaaludes and ecstasy, among others.

 

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WHAT WOULD THIS MEAN FOR RESEARCH?

Because marijuana is on Schedule I, it’s been very difficult to conduct authorized clinical studies that involve administering the drug. That has created something of a Catch-22: calls for more research, but barriers to doing it. (Scientists sometimes rely instead on people’s own reports of their marijuana use.)

 

Schedule III drugs are easier to study.

 

In the meantime, a 2022 federal law aimed to ease marijuana research.

 

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Under the federal tax code, businesses involved in “trafficking” in marijuana or any other Schedule I or II drug can’t deduct rent, payroll or various other expenses that other businesses can write off. (Yes, at least some cannabis businesses, particularly state-licensed ones, do pay taxes to the federal government, despite its prohibition on marijuana.) Industry groups say the tax rate often ends up at 70% or more.

 

The deduction rule doesn’t apply to Schedule III drugs, so the proposed change would cut pot companies’ taxes substantially.

 

[Xbob42]

Why is this shit not factually classified to begin with? Makes the government look pretty fucking stupid. And I mean more than usual.

[silentbob]

30 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Why is this shit not factually classified to begin with? Makes the government look pretty fucking stupid. And I mean more than usual.

Because of its classification, it was limited in studies by the federal government. So they didn’t know the facts and still don’t it seems. From what my 420magazine boards said, most of the studies were done by only one research facility in Mississippi, and couldn’t grow weed for shit. So they need scientists/regulators who know how to grow and when to harvest this for proper studying. It should be right up there with tobacco and alcohol for you Americans. 

[unogueen]

1 hour ago, Xbob42 said:

Why is this shit not factually classified to begin with? Makes the government look pretty fucking stupid. And I mean more than usual.

Racism/Class disruption. Sometimes you hate some people more than money. ie. everywhere.

[Xbob42]

8 minutes ago, unogueen said:

Racism/Class disruption. Sometimes you hate some people more than money. ie. everywhere.

Absolutely.

41 minutes ago, silentbob said:

Because of its classification, it was limited in studies by the federal government. So they didn’t know the facts and still don’t it seems. From what my 420magazine boards said, most of the studies were done by only one research facility in Mississippi, and couldn’t grow weed for shit. So they need scientists/regulators who know how to grow and when to harvest this for proper studying. It should be right up there with tobacco and alcohol for you Americans. 

"We know nothing about this, let's classify it as super dangerous and not let anyone study it!"

 

Genius.

[unogueen]

The armed forces know plenty and it wasn't useful to them. That reduces it's value across all boards by a mile.

[Keyser_Soze]

In before Jason