US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

ezfe

Only cannabis that is prescribed medically or in an FDA-approved product: > Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday changed the classifications of products containing marijuana that are covered by the Food and Drug Administration or that have received a state medical-marijuana licence. They will move from a Schedule I narcotic like heroin to a Schedule III drug - on par with Tylenol with codeine. > He also called a hearing to consider reclassifying all marijuana.

rkozik1989

This is ultimately a good thing, but as a country we also need to talk about the effects of cannabis use on neurodivergent folks. Its not as harmful as other drugs but also isn't really a good coping mechanism. Especially if you're neurodivergent and deal with depression. What I've seen being in/out of partial hospitalization programs is that people just don't realize that heavy cannabis is actually causing/prolonging some of the problems they use cannabis to escape from. Everyone needs to make their own health decisions for themselves but we really do need a mature conversation about cannabis.

oompydoompy74

Regulating human consumption of anything that grows from the ground is absolutely ridiculous. It’s an affront to the natural order. At the minimum, nobody should have the ability to tell me I can’t buy seeds and grow a plant for my own personal consumption.

bakies

Now the next Democrat presidential candidate can't run on "legalize it." Might have to develop real strategy.

lenerdenator

"Trump administration finishes Biden administration effort to reclassify cannabis as less dangerous" would be a more accurate headline.

setgree

Every so often the Trump administration seems like they might actually care about getting my vote. A recent executive order making it easier to do research on psychedelic therapy is another example [0]. A policy shift to reform IRB review for social and behavioral science [1] would be really targeted at me. I know politics is hard to talk about, but I generally think that we underappreciate the importance of being agentic in politics. Obviously I prefer that our government follow the law and uphold the constitution. But the many ways in which the current administration got things done by being quick, by "flooding the zone" [2], and by using tactics that apparently no one noticed before [3-4] are worthy of study and emulation. I know the obvious response to this is to note that a lot of what they're doing is illegal, and again, I think that's bad. But they really make the current Democratic leadership seem out of touch and old [5] by comparison. Combined with policy positions that are far from the median voter's [6], it doesn't make for a winning look/platform. [0] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/acce... [1] https://www.cspicenter.com/p/its-time-to-review-the-institut... [2] https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/02/tr... [3] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/27/russell-vought... [4] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/03/16/the-unmaking-o... [5] https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-democrat... [6] https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-median-voter-is-a-50-someth...

periodjet

Is it less dangerous though? I was a heavy user for a year and it thoroughly destabilized my life and really negatively impacted my mental health. The funny thing is recalling how much of a cannabis advocate I was at the time, too.

giantg2

I see a lot of people pushing weed as being safer than alcohol. There's a huge difference in the available data for both of these, not to mention the risk gradient of each based on dose and frequency. There are more known risks with alcohol, but it's not an apples to apples comparison based on the data. The final verdict is that neither is a "safe" choice based on the data, even if the risks differ somewhat between them.

atonse

Honestly, I have zero issues with legalizing marijuana (I'm not an expert on the effects), but I just don't like how the smell really travels and overwhelms local areas nowadays. Fair or not, I think it smells stronger than cigarette smoke (which smells more like a neutral smoke maybe?) so has a higher annoyance factor. So over time, I've gotten more in the camp of "completely ok with the gummies being legal, not so sure about the smoking part anymore" - anyone else feel that way?

josefritzishere

Wouldn't it be more meaningful if the DEA officially reclassified it? They set up the drug schedules.

Simulacra

I wish he had gone further! I am also deeply frustrated with past President's who alluded to legalization but never delivered anything, except empty promises at election time. Marijuana is one of those political dog whistles they only talk about at elections, which funny enough we're nearing, but at least finally someone did something instead of just saying they would...

thelastgallon

And this is how you win the mid-term!

mannyv

Stoners probably don't vote (it's too much work), but dispensary owners do. And now they can start the process for allowing dispensaries into the banking system. How that will work will be unclear, because technically marijuana is still a controlled substance. That said, pharmacies can bank, so at some level dispensaries can bank. Maybe only medical dispensaries can bank, and the recreational ones will piggyback off of them?

arctics

don't do drugs, life is beautiful.

ajay-b

This has been a long time coming. Now let's tax it, and use that money to pay for drug and mental health treatment, much in the same way that the lottery is used in places to pay for education.