Hillary Relents On Marijuana Classification

Hillary Clinton this weekend joined her Democratic rivals in calling for the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug, opening it up to medical research so far blocked by its Schedule 1 classification. The Washington Post reports:

“We haven’t done research, why? Because it’s considered a schedule 1 drug,” Clinton said during a town hall meeting at Claflin University in South Carolina on Saturday. “I’d like to move it from schedule 1 to schedule 2.” The addition to her position on marijuana brings her in line with two other Democratic presidential rivals, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, who both oppose marijuana’s designation as a schedule 1 substance. Sanders has gone farther, saying that marijuana should not be listed among DEA regulated substances at all. In response to Clinton’s announcement, Sanders said that her position does not go far enough. Clinton’s “approach ignored the major issue,” Sanders said. “Secretary Clinton would classify marijuana in the same category as cocaine and continue to make marijuana a federally regulated substance.”

The DEA describes Schedule 1 drugs as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule 1 drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence.”